Vacation from the Norm
by kgs-wy
Summary: Kim's graduation? So the drama. Summer semester at Go City U? Even worse! But Ron has a badical plan: a month long European vacation for the two of them and Rufus! Can the world avoid mischief for a month or does Shego's sudden appearance scream trouble?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Forward**

Just as a note, I'm experimenting a bit with the third person perspective in this piece, so if things seem a little off, disjointed or outright strange with perspective shifts from time to time, well, there you go! ^_^

This fic is the result of a li'l short fic/long cookie I posted on the KP Slash Haven. It was in response to a challenge forum thread entitled "Songs, Fics" where a song and lyrics to said song are posted, and the writers are challenged to write a short form fic from that. It was stated after my short that people would be interested in reading more in that universe, and so now, here's the events that led up to that short fic. ^_^

And another quick note, I put Kim and Shego as the 'pairing' in the chapter summary section for a reason. If you have read - or go to the site and read - the ficlet, you'll understand why. For those that are members there, you'll know the answer to the following question: does it mean that Kim and Ron will break up during the course of the story? To answer those that are not members there, and have no wish to be members… I won't say outright because that'll be a huge spoiler, but I will hint that just 'cause Kim's engaged to Ron does not mean that KiGo flavor won't be part of this fic.

Disclaimer is after the Author's Notes at the bottom.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG **

"Okay, Miss Possible, I think we have everything cleared up!" Jerry McDermott, Go City University's Dean of Students declared. His light baritone sounded satisfied as he closed the email on his screen and removed his reading glasses, setting them on the desk.

The first impression most people got of Mr. McDermott was how big and physically intimidating his presence was. Although well into middle aged, he was over six feet tall, and built like the linebacker he'd been in college. Despite this, he was rarely an intimidating presence, especially to students. His demeanor was that of a favorite uncle, and his deep blue eyes and somewhat scraggly, thinning sandy-blond hair and big, bushy beard easily reinforced this impression.

He still couldn't believe the trouble the extraordinary woman sitting across from his desk had gone through. She'd sailed through the application process, much to his surprise and pleasure. She had even found an apartment with her fiancée before classes started.

Many of the things he'd read in her high school evaluations, and heard about her in TV or other news sources, seemed to have been true. She could, and had, saved the world, and regularly fought against foes that forced police to call in far heavier forces. She had a high intellect, as evidenced by her grades and her tutoring efforts with other students.

The flip side of the coin for her was that, when it came to things like dealing with problems on a personal level, she had a few problems. She was hesitant to go to higher authorities, even when called for, or to cause problems within the establishment. She truly was a hero, but sometimes seemed to take her selflessness to an unrealistic level. Sometimes even to the point of trying to bear other's problems on her shoulders.

And while her personality evaluations from high school showed a level of personal selfishness in keeping with most women her age, her heroic selflessness seemed to make it all the easier to fall through the cracks when problems presented themselves. And like so many students that had gone straight from high school into college – Kim doing so without bothering to take the summer semester off – that's exactly what had happened.

The most glaring crack was when she was placed in a class literally a year and a half lower than her demonstrated academic abilities. It would have been cleared up immediately had she come in to the Dean of Student's office, but being used to the way high school worked, she hadn't realized the resources available to her as a student. As he understood it, she felt that asking might have seemed she was banking on her status as a known hero and a minor celebrity.

At least her grades at semester's end had caused her to come in with questions. She'd started by asking her professor, Mr. Slocomb, about her grades, as well as the Math Department. Unfortunately, Mr. Slocomb had been not only her professor, but the head of the Math Department, and he had stifled her questions quickly. Questions she had every right to ask, and have resolved.

Even so, Kim didn't seem to feel happy about the situation that precluded her presence in Mr. McDermott's office. "Thanks, Mr. McDermott," she said in a subdued, even worried tone, "I think it was a bit too much trouble, bu-…"

"Nonsense!" Mr. McDermott interrupted gently, steepling his fingers under his nose and resting his bearded chin on his thumbs, "Miss Possible, that's what the Office of the Dean of Students is here for. We help students who are having problems, be it problems from within or without."

He paused, waiting for a moment while Kim digested his comment, before leaning forward and continuing in a compassionate tone, "GCU does not tolerate either mistreatment or discrimination of any kind! It doesn't matter if it's because of your sex, your religion, ethnic background, your sexual orientation… Or even in somewhat extreme cases such as yours, with you being a nationally, hell, internationally recognized hero, with obligations that take you away from campus from time to time!"

"Well, I don't know if discrimination had anything to do with it…" Kim began, looking down to her lap where she wrung her hands together nervously.

Mr. McDermott interrupted her with a sharp, contemptuous laugh, shaking his head lightly. Kim blinked a couple times and looked back up at him, almost as if expecting the tone to be directed at her. He saw her relax as she realized it wasn't, and he looked her straight in the eyes, speaking in the calming manner he had to literally thousands of students over the years, "Miss Possible… Kim, sorry for laughing, but what Mr. Slocomb was doing to you was not only wrong, not only unethical, not only against GCU entrance and attendance policies, but it was also discriminatory!"

Kim sighed and looked away slightly, watching other summer students walking between the campus buildings and enjoying the unseasonably cool summer day. "Sir, it's just… I don't understand why he did this? I mean, I really didn't want to sound like a… I don't know, it must've sounded like I was some kind of prima donna, expecting everything to go my way … I know how good my math is, and I knew I hadn't screwed up any of the problems on homework or the tests! And it was Trigonometry, not the Calculus classes I had in Middleton, but I thought it was a regular thing for students to test lower than they did in high school…"

"Kim," Mr. McDermott sighed in a frustrated yet strangely fond manner, "Speaking just on your math scores, you graduated as one of the top three students from Middleton High School this year. As you know, your school is one of only a few schools in the country that has an 'All AP' class structure from freshman through senior year, with no so-called 'regular' academic classes.

"That said, your math entrance exam scores, not to mention your high school grades, justified you starting out in Calculus Two! Yet, as you pointed out, Mr. Slocomb put you in Trig." Mr. McDermott twisted his mouth into a grimace, before schooling his face into a neutral expression, "Had anyone in this office known, this would have been resolved at the beginning of the semester, instead of after your grades were given."

"That's…" Kim began, looking back at the man finally, "That's another part of the problem, sir… I… I didn't want to make waves. I mean, as you mentioned, I'm known internationally as a hero, so… I thought people might think I was trying to fall back on that instead of being a good student? And with the way students were leaving his class, I thought it was my fault…"

"No, Kim," Mr. McDermott said with a sad smile, Kim's words confirming his earlier understanding and personal suspicions. "You do not have to take blame upon yourself when other students were unwilling to sit by and watch what their teacher was doing to fellow students. Especially when one of them is a known hero! Their leaving the class had nothing to do with you personally so much as the way Mr. Slocomb treated you. I'm only sorry we couldn't act until we'd fully investigated.

"You're not the first hero or student to run into trouble with Mr. Slocomb." He sighed and twisted his face into a grimace at Kim's mystified expression, "He's taken the same attitude with kids attending GCU that had cancer, and went out of town to get treatments. Or kids that had to take time from their classes for funerals, estate probates, or just to help care for sick or dying family members. But I assure you, you'll be the last to suffer through his attitude. Mr. Slocomb has been removed from the tenure list, and will no longer be the head of the Math Department; if he fails to improve his attitude by the end of the fall semester, he will no longer be a part of this university."

"I…" Kim began, the automatic protest dying on her lips when she saw the set of Mr. McDermott's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kim. I know your reputation, and that you feel responsible." He reached across his desk to place a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Please don't. He is only reaping what he's sown. GCU prides itself on being the university of choice for so many students. We have a reputation as a school that's especially well suited not just to heroes and heroines such as you, but for students that have needs that take them from campus on a regular basis.

"At any rate, Kim," Mr. McDermott concluded after receiving a nod of understanding from Kim, "We understand you're considering taking a semester, or possibly a year, off from academia. This could actually be a _very_ good thing for you, especially with your potentially hectic lifestyle. It'll give you a chance to get out of the high school mindset, and meaning no offense, it could help ground you into a more adult mindset. As well, it could very well help you decide what major you'll be taking…"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Ron sighed as he felt Kim's fingers tracing idle, random patters along his chest. They'd both been glad that this mission, unlike the three other missions earlier in the week, had gone as smoothly as it had. Not that saving some big fashion show in Milan, Italy from the Fashionistas should have been difficult, but it was a nice change of pace.

The threat the fashion conscious villains had used was a ray designed to disintegrate clothing. They said that they'd use it on everyone there unless the styles were changed to what they considered the proper height of style… And a few million dollars for 'consultation fees' were paid, of course. While Ron and Kim had been forced to stifle their humor when their help had been requested, the threat was actually quite serious.

After all, just the clothing being displayed at the show was worth several million dollars, and that didn't include the clothing – and reputations - of the people there for the event. Several high profile stars, clothing business executives, and just plain rich folks had been there to watch, and that much potential public embarrassment was something to be avoided, to say the least.

At least they'd had a chance to catch up with Britina and MC Honey, both of whom were attending, when the former had offered to give them a ride in her jet. It had been interesting, to say the least, as the members of Team Possible had been the first outside of a very small, select group to hear that the two women were working together on an album.

Kim's excitement had lasted, in fact, until the trio of fashion conscious villains had shown up. While Team Possible had kept them from reaching the floor of the fashion show, Kim had been targeted with it. Fortunately, the only side effects seem to have been that, indeed, it _just_ destroyed clothing. Just as well, for Ron and Kim's piece of mind - not to mention the physical well being of the Fashionista that had fired the weapon - it had only destroyed the lower rear half of her purple mission shirt and the back strap of her bra.

Luckily they'd brought backup clothing, but it had been mortifying to the teenage heroine. Ron smiled how quickly that had dissipated after being invited to the show's after party. Kim had quickly become embroiled in a discussion of some kind with Britina and one of the better known designers, Michelle Couture. After the discussion, the latter had offered to have a new mission outfit made for Kim. She'd even offered to design an entirely new one for free if Kim felt she needed an update!

Kim, being who she was, had refused at first. A small part of it probably was the 'payment for services' feel of the offer as the red-head claimed. Ron felt that a larger part of it had actually been loyalty to her existing look that Monique had come up with after getting a little help from Rufus. And although he hadn't asked, he was fairly sure that her emotional state was as much a part of it as the loyalty to the design.

The designer, however, had continued to make her pitch while the party slowly wound down. She'd been struck that Rufus and a high school senior come up with such a design, which Michelle loved. A brief, Ron translated conversation had ensued, and she'd been incredibly pleased to discover Monique was attending her own alma mater.

That had finally given her an angle that Kim could accept. She'd offered to work with Monique, just for the joy of helping out the woman who had helped the world out so much… And working with a known fashion designer while still in school could only help Monique out later in life.

Arrangements had been quick in the making after that. Michelle had arranged to fly to New York to meet up with Monique at her campus. The black girl had also been called to work out some basic ideas while Kim's movement abilities and style had still been fresh in Michelle's head. Wade and Monique had some ideas with some new materials that could be put in the outfit, and Michelle had thrown some ideas of her own out, leaving Kim concerned with just how much each outfit was going to cost.

Kim had auspiciously been interrupted before she could blow a gasket. MC Honey and Britina had dragged the protesting red-head away to discuss some of the fashions that had been displayed at the show. Sine the two singers had planned on staying in Italy for a few days, Ron had discussed a couple ideas with Wade after Kim had been dragged away. Wade, rocking as ever, had arranged for the blond's ideas to happen.

According to what they'd told Kim, he'd arranged a ride back home, much to the red-head's pleasure at Ron's initiative. That's how Ron and Kim found themselves in the crew rest area of a high speed cargo jet flying between Milan, Italy and Madrid, Spain. The Mediterranean Sea flashed brilliantly thousands of feet below them, and Ron could just see the southeastern coast of France on the horizon.

The jet belonged to Mr. Edmunds, a Welshman who ran a transoceanic fast delivery service, specializing in exotic cars, one off prototypes and concept cars. The favor he was repaying came when Kim had saved his son's farm from destruction when one of Professor Dementor's plans had gone awry.

It was pure chance he'd been in Italy awaiting the delivery of a modified supercar for a car show in Cleveland, Ohio. Of course, before he'd been clued in on Ron's plan, he'd wanted to take them all the way to Middleton, Colorado. When Ron told him the plan to get Kim a few days off at the Senior's island, however, he'd been happy to offer the ride.

The pilot had spoken with the owner of the performance shop modifying the car he was already scheduled, and asked if there were any other deliveries that might be along their route. Some of his reasoning was to keep Kim from getting suspicious, but mostly, he freely admitted, was the opportunity to make some extra money.

They'd been in luck, as the performance shop had finished another car for a buyer in Madrid, Spain. With Mr. Edmunds' being available, as well as his extraordinary reputation, the buyer had been more than happy to pay a little more for delivery. They merely had to get the car destined for Madrid from the shop's Bologna, Italy facilities.

When he'd spoken to them a few moments later, Ron had brought up the favor, and asked if Mr. Edmunds was alright with the favor being called in as it was. The pilot had responded with a hearty laugh. He claimed that, being a proper English gentleman, it wouldn't be right to consider the favor he owed repaid when compared to such a worthy cause, considering all that Kim had done for the world. Ron found it all almost too good to be true, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Kim had been ecstatic hearing that they had a ride to Cleveland. She'd immediately had Wade arrange for the sloth to be at the airport. She'd come up with a plan of her own after finding out Ron had arranged a ride, and hoped to enjoy the drive from Cleveland to Middleton, where they'd planned on spending a couple days with their families before returning to Go City.

Ron hadn't thought about it at the time, but now, in the bench seat they shared, he had a feeling she had something in mind that some members of the family wouldn't exactly be happy with. It was the look on her face; a mixture of relief and devilish, blushing anticipation that warned Ron what to expect as her tracing fingers dropped from his chest to his belly, drawing a light giggle from him.

He blinked a couple times as the realization settled in his mind before looking down at the shock of red hair leaning on his chest, "Hey, KP?" His voice was clear over the newest addition to their gadgets, a Bluetooth communications earbud. The audio was so clear in fact, that Ron's anxious gulp was clearly audible, "How many stops are we making between Cleveland and Middleton?"

"Just a couple overnights, Ronnie…" she cooed, leaning back and up to give him a peck on the cheek, "Maybe a few…"

To anyone that didn't know the red-head, that peck and her comments would have seemed the model of innocence, but Ron knew better; she never used that nickname for him except when she was feeling amorous. The hand that had moved from his chest to his belly, he realized with a sudden, embarrassing clarity, had moved again, and was resting comfortably, not to mention _very_ high, on his upper his thigh.

Not that he minded, normally, or at that very moment for that matter. After all, with her physical activity, she'd been on birth control less than six months after puberty to help regulate her cycles. They'd known, as had _most_ of their families, that it would only be a matter of time before their relationship grew to encompass physical love as well as emotional.

But over most of the last month, there was something off; it had almost been as if Kim was desperate during their love making. He'd asked her about it, but she'd always passed it off as stress from school. Now though, she seemed less desperate and more… Comfortable was the only word that came to mind, as it had been after their first hesitant, and admittedly clumsy couplings. The relaxed manner Kim was going about it all helped him relax considerably.

"Okay, KP," he said, letting his concern drift away unnoticed behind his normally oblivious façade, "I guess a couple days couldn't hurt, right?"

"Exactly, Ronnie… No school, no missions, no one coming in to visit unexpectedly… No Dad freaking out 'cause you're giving a pulled muscle in my back a massage…" She began to lean her head on his chest again, and Ron felt the first kisses on his chest that he knew would lead to a long bout of either teasing, making out, or both.

"Um, KP?" he asked with a small frown, "I thought that all got cleared up? I mean, he said he was sorry, right?"

"Yeah, but I'd like to have you just to myself for a few days, Ronnie…" Kim said firmly. She'd been about to say more, but one of the plane's engines sputtered and died.

"Um, that doesn't sound right!" Ron squeaked, his eyes going wide. _Are we already that close?_ he asked himself, glancing around in a seeming panic and hoping Kim didn't realize he was panicking for more than one reason, _And that sounds a lot more real tha-…_

"Oh, no…" Kim's half growled, half worried tone snapped Ron from his panicky thoughts, relief washing through him as he realized she was just as worried.

"Miss Possible," Mr. Edmunds called out over the crew quarters' speakers, his voice surprisingly calm, "If I remember correctly, you have some pilot training… Would you be a dear and help me with gauges while I concentrate on keeping us airborne? We've lost fuel pressure to the port engine and the electronics on my side of the cockpit seem to be out…"

Kim jumped and hit the intercom button, motioning to Ron to follow her with a nod of her head. "On my way!" she called out before dashing up front.

Ron followed almost immediately, hearing rapid fire chatter in Spanish between Mr. Edmunds and someone else, even as they angled towards an island off of Spain's southeast coast. He heard Kim groan and slap her forehead in recognition, and he couldn't help but pipe up to try and clam her down, "Hey, look at it this way, KP… They're reformed since Bonnie married Junior and we saved Bonnie from Camille Leon, right?"

Kim seemed to digest this for a moment, then sighed, "I know, Ron, I'm just… I don't know if I could handle Bonnie right now if she's in a snippy mood."

"I guess we'll find out, right?" Ron chimed in nervously. _Oh, man, this could be five hundred, no a _thousand_ miles of bad road!_ Ron sat in what would be the navigator's seat in a less technically advanced jet, and Kim jumped into the co-pilot's seat, visibly relaxing as she realized all the instruments on her side seemed to be working properly.

Mr. Edmunds carefully angled his jet towards the runway of La Isla Senior. Kim called out various readings to the hawk faced pilot as he trimmed the flaps for maximum lift. Ron was very thankful that, while the cargo jet may have been down an engine, it still had enough power and momentum to make the runway easily.

He glanced at Rufus, who had scrambled up on his shoulder to watch, and figured the other three people in the jet were glad as well. The naked mole rat watched the proceedings until they were on final approach, then shrugged, "Hnk, no big!" He gave Ron a huge smile and they shared a mole rat level high five, before jumping off Ron's shoulder to make his way back to Ron's pack and a resumption of his interrupted nap.

After a nearly perfect landing, despite the mechanical problems, they taxied towards the hangars at the tower's request. Señor Senior, Sr. was standing there waiting, a concerned, almost worried expression on his face. What surprised Ron, and from the look on her face, Kim, was the fact that Bonnie was next to him, a similarly anxious expression on her face.

After pulling into the hangar, Mr. Edmunds climbed out of the pilot's seat and walked towards the aft cargo door, Kim and Ron following close behind. They caught up to Mr. Edmunds just as he started lowering the cargo door, revealing that SSS and Bonnie had moved to the inside of the hangar.

"Welcome to my island," SSS called out with a nod to the two teens, his typically aristocratic tone gone due to the concern in his voice. "Is everyone alright?" Ron almost laughed out loud as he realized that SSS was wearing a pair of well used, grungy looking coveralls over his clothing, but still wore a pair of expensive, thoroughly oil stained, loafers.

"Quite alright," Mr. Edmunds replied with obvious relief in his tone, "The old bird has amazing engines! Unfortunately, I'm afraid the diagnostics indicate the port fuel pump is completely unresponsive, and that might be what took out half of my avionics. If not for Ms. Possible here, I may have had more trouble with the landing."

"That's K for you!" Bonnie chimed in, relief evident in her voice as she cocked a hip and placed a relaxed hand there, "Always saving the day."

"It was no big!" Kim answered automatically, seemingly as distracted at the sight of the teal eyed teen in front of them. She was dressed similarly to SSS, with a smudged set of coveralls, but more sensible, steel toed hiking shoes. Her fingers, always immaculately clean and manicured in high school were anything but that. The hands were not only filthy, but visibly calloused from using tools and her fingernails were cut sensibly short, with the same oil and dirt on her hands ground under them to the quick.

Kim shook her head and went on, speaking as if she hadn't hesitated at all, "It was just calling out a few technical readings like airspeed, altitude and horizon and the like…"

"Which some experienced pilots would have had trouble with in a similar situation!" Mr. Edmunds and SSS said at the same time, laughing as if long time friends. Mr. Edmunds, confirmed the suspicion Ron had about that when he continued, "My apologies, Francisco, but I do need to call my daughter in law to arrange pickup for the vehicles… I'm just glad I decided to get going fifteen hours early!"

"Be my guest, Ethan," SSS replied easily as Mr. Edmunds went into the cargo jet to get his shipping list. SSS turned and gestured to one of the men that had come into the hangar to help with the plane, "Mauricio, please bring a cart around to take Ethan to the business center so he can arrange transport for the vehicles. And of course, the two…" he paused and glanced down at Ron's right front leg pocket, as Rufus popped out, looking ready to correct him if necessary, "Sorry, the _three_ of you, please, feel free to make yourself comfortable!"

He walked into the back of the cargo jet to chat with Mr. Edmunds, as if unexpected guests happened every day. Which, upon brief reflection, Ron felt was partially true, especially when the Seniors had been in the villain business! "Um, thanks, Mr. Senior!" Ron piped up when he saw Kim about to object, earning a sigh and a roll of the eyes from Kim, "Oh, c'mon, KP! It's a tropical island; we could use a few hours to relax after the mission, right?"

"Not too rich for your blood, is it, K?" Bonnie challenged genially, drawing a raised eyebrow from Kim at both the teasing tone normally reserved for Bonnie's few true friends, and the easy, honest smile on the other teen's face. "Seriously, even if you leave with Mr. Edmunds, it's gonna be at least six hours to get his next plane here and the cars transferred. You two could relax on the beach, or by the pool or wherever!"

"Thanks, B…" Kim said in an uncertain tone, a hesitant smile on her lips, "I'm kinda not used to SSS being out of the villain business!"

"Yeah, but he's not in it anymore, so if you wanted, you two could probably stay for a few days…" Bonnie shrugged, walking towards the waiting golf cart, "'Sides, I'd like to catch up with things back home, y'know?"

"Sure." Kim said, glancing back at Ron, "Um, you wanna grab the mission gear, Ron?"

"On it, KP!" Ron called out, jogging to the back of the cargo jet.

He surreptitiously drew and released a deep, cleansing breath when he saw that Kim was occupied with talking to Bonnie… And not about to start a verbal war. He worried at her tight, guarded posture, but he had more pressing matters to concern himself with. He jogged forward to the crew compartment, grabbed their packs and proceeded to the cockpit to check on Mr. Edmunds and SSS. "Um, the plan didn't, y'know, do this, did it?" he asked contritely.

"Hardly, Ronald!" Mr. Edmunds chuckled, "Well, I think the port avionics package was truly burned out, but that's not the fault of the plan; they failed before I could turn the pilot's side controls off!"

"Really?" Ron queried, his tone somewhat skeptical and worried.

"Very much so!" Mr. Edmunds confirmed, "The port fuel pump failed quite catastrophically, and sent a power surge to the front, but luckily only shut down the pilot's controls. In fact, it's probably a good thing that your request to get Ms. Possible some time off took us this way… Otherwise I'd have been over the French Alps or the Jura - or possibly over the Atlantic - when the fuel pump failed!"

"Y'mean," Ron boggled at him, his voice's pitch rising higher as he spoke, "This really _was_ an accident?" Rufus added an indignantly shocked squeak that seemed in complete agreement with Ron.

"Indeed," Mr. Edmunds said seriously, "I had just planned on turning off the left hand monitors and having Ms. Possible assist me in, but obviously her assistance was more valuable than I had expected. And it saved a potentially far more expensive problem otherwise, I assure you!"

Ron and Rufus gulped, staring back and forth between the older men for a moment. "Um, well I hope so? I wonder if this is Fate saying a vacation's a good idea?"

"Quite possibly, Ronald," SSS agreed sincerely, "As to the plan… You said you wanted a few days, but Kimberly seems rather reluctant…"

"Yeah, she's been stressed, like I said on the Kimmunicator the other day." Ron said, scratching his neck in uncertainty, "I… Think I can talk her into it? And she needs it, but I don't know how to talk to her about it, really? I can say the right things when the pressure's on sometimes, but I don't want it to get to that point, y'know? That's kinda why I also asked if you had advice on… Things… And stuff?"

"I assure you, Ronald," SSS chuckled, "I'm quite familiar with the type. My Sylvia was very much like Kimberly, so I think I can offer advice on some of the… Uncertainty you have with the purely romantic side of the relationship… Although from what Ethan said, it seems you two are quite fine in that area."

Ron turned to Mr. Edmunds with bugged out eyes, "You know what KP and I we-…" he stopped, slapping his hand over his mouth to a round of laughter form the older men.

"Not entirely, no," Mr. Edmunds said while chuckling, "But you confirmed it."

"Nothing happened!" Ron choked in a panicky tone, "Promise!"

"I know, Ronald," Mr. Edmunds replied evenly, "Neither of you were donning clothing when you came into the cockpit!"

"Whew!" Ron exclaimed, then looked back uncertainty, "Um…"

"Come, Ronald!" SSS interrupted, saving Ron from further embarrassment, "I'll send Bon-Bon on ahead with Kimberly, and we shall assist you in further way of keeping your woman happy with you emotionally…" SSS waited for Ronald to nod in understanding and relax a bit, before adding, "And physically!"

SSS' evil laugh at Ron's blushing, spluttering reaction echoed through the hangar for several seconds, followed by a brief, embarrassed cough and a subdued, but amused, "Ah, life, such a _cruel_ mistress! I finally perfect it, _after_ quitting villainy!"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

The recently pardoned supervillainess and well known super thief Shego slinked easily through the seemingly secure corridors in Global Justice's Strasbourg, France offices. She found the systems surprisingly lackluster, considering that the city was the Seat of the European Parliament, and by extension the European Union. Then again France had a notable lack of supervillainous activity, despite its relative importance in the world's economy, politics and even scientific communities.

_Still, they do have a lot more boots walking around than back in the States, don't they?_ she thought derisively upon hearing a trio of agents from around the bend in the corridor ahead of her. She glanced around in the quick manner of the thief she was; spotting a vent, she efficiently opened the grate and slipped inside. She reached back along her lithe, athletic body and pulled the grate back in place just before the trio made their way around the corner.

She briefly considered her options as the men passed; when they were down the corridor, she decided to move forward along the narrow crawlspace. A huge smile broke her features as her instinct was rewarded. The vent emptied into an airshaft that could have been lifted straight out of a HenchCo timeshare lair. _I wonder if the rumors about who built this particular building are true?_

Shrugging to herself, she reached down to her leg pouch and pulled out what looked like an MP3 player; in actuality, it was a frequency shifting listening device. Tuning it for ultrasonic, she pointed the directional microphone up and down the shaft, nodding in satisfaction. _Not even an ultrasonic detector? Ol' Cyclops would be _pissed_ if she knew about it!_

Even without ultrasonic movement detectors, she wasn't hasty. She carefully placed the device in her leg pouch and pulled out another. The new device looked to be a simple, thin film of plastic like a pair of the cheap sunglasses they gave eye exam patients after full pupillary dilation. The only noticeable difference was the bump at each end and a strap to keep it around the wearer's head.

She held it to her face, looking up and down the shaft before nodding in understanding. The floors above her, the opposite of the direction she was going, were clear. Down, however, was a modified McHenry laser grid; since she couldn't see the lasers without the glasses, it had to be the detection version; however, it could be the newer, two stage version, with harmless detection and lethal anti-intruder emitters in a single unit.

She didn't want to take the chance of the latter, so she strapped the device to her head to continue viewing the complicated laser grid. _I'm _so_ glad I chopped the hair a couple days ago!_

The new hair was a drastic change, indeed. And even though she was still getting used to, she loved it, and she had Francois Le Fèvre, superstar stylist to thank for it! The angled bob cut bordered on severe, sweeping from the nape of her neck to fall just far enough to brush her collarbones.

She'd been worried at his suggestion of even bangs in front, but Francois had been right; it pulled the style together and framed her face beautifully. Overall, the style accentuated her face with an exotic flare, without sharpening the angularity of her features to severity. It also drew attention to and sharpened the beauty of her eyes, a feature she'd always loved about herself.

Breathing out an almost inaudible, bitter chuckle, she ran back over a mantra she felt would soon be quite well worn, _I needed the change!_ She stared pensively down the shaft as the thought bounced around her head. She hadn't been content after the pardon, even after she'd started dating Drew.

In fact, that had been a large part of her discontent; she honestly loved the blue doofus, but as they'd discovered after several weeks, the dating wasn't working out. He was stuck in his experiments or lectures well over half the time and a good chunk of what remained had been taken up by his therapist. And, of course, she had been terribly bored when he wasn't around. They enjoyed going out, but…

One real argument was all it had taken. Granted, it had been an argument that was very heated, and they'd said some embarrassingly harsh things to each other. The words that had ended the argument, her words, were still fresh in her mind almost two full weeks later, _"It's not like I _enjoy_ feeling like I'm dating my uncle, Drew!"_

What had followed had been painful, for the both of them, but probably necessary. They'd gone back over their relationship from the day he'd hired her almost six years earlier. After a time, they'd both admitted that, indeed, it was more like an uncle and niece, or even father and daughter relationship than anything else.

And as suddenly as they'd realized it, most of the awkwardness they'd felt since the awards ceremony at the UN had vanished. Within two days, they were back to their old comfort level, enough that she could tell him how terrifyingly dull her life had become.

Her expression softened into a fond smile. Drew had surprised her with some advice that made sense. More than anything else he'd ever said in the time she'd been around him. _"Maybe you need a change!"_ he'd said to her, _"A makeover, or just a new hairstyle, a new work outfit, something? Maybe even a new career, or a new angle on an old one!"_

In truth, she wasn't really sure she _needed_ to change, but if she were honest with herself, Drew had had a point. _At least his advice worked out for the better._

She'd taken the advice for a new suit first. He'd been very obliging, and had risked potential trouble arranging it for her. Granted, she was essentially testing a prototype material he and his soon to be partner - Kimmie's nerd extraordinaire, Wade Load - had designed, but she'd wondered if it would be a good idea, considering her past. The both of them had shrugged her concern off, claiming she'd be a great candidate, just like Kim Possible when they finished with her new outfit.

The material was based on Lorwardian technology, and she had to admit that so far, she liked it. Unlike her old Kevlar impregnated polycarbonate suit, it was a thinner material, slipped on easily and felt like form hugging silk. Another benefit, to her eyes at least, was that it clung to her body even more flatteringly than her old suit. She'd never had any problems moving with her old suit; with the new suit, however, her movements were smoother, and the material was quieter when she moved, as well as being far lighter. And if Drew was right about other aspects of the material, she'd be ecstatic!

_Let's see, what was it those two said?_ she asked herself, _Watertight, twenty percent more resistant to chemicals, tears, cuts and piercing than my old suit. Thirty percent increase to blunt trauma resistance, bullet resistance as good as high quality body armor. Passive, unpowered heating or cooling depending on ambient versus body temperature, breathable, _and_ it's completely insulated against electricity?_ she thought with wry mental chuckle, _Who _wouldn't_ want it in my line of work?_

She barely bit back a sharp laugh when she remembered who Drew's ultimate client would be, and the irony that _she_ was one of the first two people to test it! _Who would've thought I'd be testing Global Justice's new uniform material?_

Like her hair, the color scheme was a distinct departure for her. Gone was the harlequin color scheme; in its place was a new pattern of deep charcoal gray and a green that closely matched her eyes.

The deep charcoal made up the majority of the suit, with moderately broad green stripes that flowed along the lines of muscle on her arms and legs. She'd also decided on a few narrower green stripes crossing down and along her torso that accentuated her bosom and the lines of her back nicely.

She'd been so happy with the suit that she'd decided to help Drakken in return. Yet another departure, she realized, and one that made her grimace in a resigned fashion. _I'm _not_ going soft, or turning into a goody-goody, I'm just… Free of all of my old BS!_

Her conflicted commiserating ended with a devilish smile. After all, having been a little nerdy when she was younger, she'd known a couple women that might like Drew, so she'd made a few calls; after a lot of apologizing on her part, she'd convinced a woman she'd been very close to in college, who happened to be both single _and_ working at the same facility Drew was, to give the blue scientist a try. The last she'd heard, they were quite close indeed, and she honestly felt she should expect a wedding invitation any time now.

She shook her head, blinking away the sudden mistiness in her eyes. _Both of 'em are in the past, this is _no_ time to get sentimental, idiot!_ she griped at herself. _Get your lazy ass back to work, chop, chop!_

She glanced back down the shaft. Her movements in the old suit would have given her an above even chance of defeating the grid; with the improvements to both her range and speed of motion the new suit offered? This job would be a cakewalk!

With a smirk, she shoved herself into the shaft, the laser grid coming up fast. She planted a foot just above the first emitter and shoved off, squeezing her athletic form through a space that was barely big enough for her. She continued this, bouncing between all four walls, until finally she was down to a shaft leading into the third sub-basement.

_This should be temporary prisoner holding, sensitive research and personnel files…_ The smile on her face from the heady, bouncing plunge down the shaft made her already beautiful face glow with pleasure, and brought a sparkle to her eyes that hadn't been there for literally months

She let out a content, even happy sigh, _Drew was right, I've missed this!_ She shimmied along the shaft until she found a vent. Quickly disabling the sensors on it, she carefully moved it open just enough to peer through. Seeing no people or cameras around, she let the grate swing open carefully. She made sure it was still attached at its hinge point, then slid out, dropping silently to the floor.

Moving with swift efficiency, she found a powered on computer and jiggled the mouse. She entered the password she'd acquired at the beginning of the job, and navigated the database for a moment. _Ah, there we go, 'High Grade Personnel and Persons of Interest to Global Justice… Now where, _ah-ha_, Will Du, GJ Second!_

She opened his file and read the contents, looking for, as the person who had hired her had requested, '…information that is embarrassing, potentially damaging or injurious to the reputation of Agent Du or Global Justice as a whole…' She smirked as she found just that, whispering a chuckled, "Bingo!"

She pulled out a smartphone and activated it, surfing to her contact's name in the menu. She had no worries about the phone being detected; after all, it was designed to use GJ's internal, secure cellular system, which then went out over the general cellular network with some of the best encryption and decryption money could buy.

The other party picked up on the second ring, and she smiled at the annoyed tone, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot it's 2 AM there. Hmm? Oh, yes, I got it. Proof?" she smirked down at the computer screen. She decided to do a little surfing of the other names on the list, and evil smirk taking to her features as the voice spoke, "Oh, nothing, just double checking… Well, maybe… Anyway, I had no idea that Stick-Up-His-Ass-Willie was a closet Cuddler…"

She pursed her lips, smirking at the question she'd been asked, "Well, apparently as a junior agent, he requested a living Cuddle-Buddy from one Dr. Amy Hall – PHD; MD; M, ASCP; MP, ASCP; MVD; MDG, ASCP; SCT ASCP-… What? Oh, well, yes, I _was_ going to read off all thirty certifications and titles… Okay, fine… Anyway, he requested a living Cuddle-Buddy from one Dr. Amy Hall, incidentally sending her into supervillainy… Yes, so, does this fulfill… I know, I will, but I'm done, right?"

There was a pause, and she was getting annoyed. _You said this would be the last of this shit I'd have to do, you bi-…_ "Huh? Now? Okay, fine…" she let the mouse hover over another name on the list, that of Kim Possible. After a moment's consideration, she decided against it. She knew what was in her own file, and how far back and deep the information digging went; she found the thought of violating Pumpkin like that… Unsettling.

_I've _so_ gone soft…_ she grimaced at the thought, _Probably why I decided to do this, maybe I'll get my edge back!_ Her train of thought was interrupted by the voice on the phone, and she shook her head in disgust at the line of questioning she received; her professional pride was wounded by this job, after all.

"Oh, the McHenry wasn't too bad," she acknowledged grudgingly, "But honestly, without anything other than idiots in boots, it was too easy… Hell, I can name at least seven people that could've gotten past everything, just off of the top of my head! Yes, they're in the top three, but also Falsetto Jones, Nachtdieb, the Embarrassment Ninjas, probably the ninjas that Stoppable trains with. Yeah, Stoppable, too, I kinda lumped him in with Possible… Actually, when he gets his mojo going, he could be as good as _I_ am. Uh, huh. Wai-… I don't… Yes, I am, and no, I doubt they would…"

Her last words had been spoken with a great deal of irritation. Then the person on the other end of the phone mentioned money, and not the deal making she'd needed after the whole pardon for saving the world, so… "One hundred fifty thousand… That's just the retainer? That much, really? Hmmm… Y'know what, if you're serious, I think I'll take you up on that! Yeah, sure, let me check that…"

She changed from the call function to the smartphone's desktop, called up her bank's app, and smiled indulgently. _She doesn't bullshit, at least…_ "You got yourself a deal. Yeah, I was planning on going there anywa-… You're full of it! Who'd want to steal the tap the mayor's using? Okay… I could see that, yeah, but…"

She sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Okay, okay, so they want the thing taken in broad daylight but before it's in the mayor's han-… Obviously before the twelve gun salute, that's _after_ he taps it, doy! Yeah, yeah, got it. I'll have full cooperation, won't I? I'd better… Okay, okay, fine… Yeah, and this is it, right? I'll actually be able to _enjoy_ Oktoberfest, even if-… Yes, I'm actually planning on doin' it and not just… Yes, you have my word! Uh, huh… Yeah, exactly, but life happens, right? Thought so. Okay, deal, just send one of your boys here to get me. Thank you _so_ much. Yeah, less sarcasm, whatever, bye!"

_So somebody wants the Oktoberfest opening tap stolen, huh?_ Shego chuckled to herself, _Well, who am I to argue when I'm getting paid _this_ much?_

**Author's Notes**

And thus starts the first chapter…! I know it may seem that KP's gotten the short end of the stick, but, unfortunately, similar things do happen… Well, without the globe trotting hero work, anyway. I'm trying really hard to present the characters as in character as possible, with the possibility of having grown up some (or in certain character's case, a lot) in the four months since Graduation.

I'm especially feeling challenged with showing a Ron as I see how he could have evolved had the writers not gotten lazy with KP Season 4. Yes, some will say he was still 'just Ron' in S4, but I honestly think he was starting to show signs of growing up in S3, especially by the end. In S4, they dropped him into the mold of being even more immature than he was in S1.

Hopefully, I'm not too far off base in that. Just as hopefully, all you readers out there like what you're reading! Do let me know if you do! Or if you spot problems… Or even if you think it sucks!

As always, I have to give a big thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for lookin' the fic over for glaringly obvious flaws in flow, readability, and major grammar/spelling errors. I'm sure a few slipped through, but I try not to take her away from her university studies, so… *shrugs helplessly*

At any rate, enjoy, and remember to keep on reading all of the great fanficiton out there!

**Disclaimer:** This is a work of fiction based on the "Kim Possible" universe. It is written for entertainment purposes only and is a strictly not for profit endeavor. "Kim Possible" and all characters thereof are owned by "The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies"; any other name, individual, product or etc. are registered, trademarked, and/or copyrighted by their respective owners. Should any of the aforementioned or their affiliates request it, I shall change the name of any product, individual or etc. and/or remove this work of fan fiction from the Web.

Individuals, corporations and/or entities without registered, trademarked, and/or copyrighted names, but with a well known and/or public presence that may or may not appear within this work of fiction are considered fair use.

Any original characters, devices, products or etc. that are created by me may be used in "Kim Possible" or other fandom works of fanfiction, fanart or etc. so long as either a) permission sought from and given by me, or b) full disclosure of the source is given in said work. Any original characters not created by me (either by another fanfiction author, artist or etc., or characters not created exclusively by me) are used with permission.

Any use of characters that are considered "fanon" characters is considered fair use.

Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Forward**

Just a fair warning: this chapter will contain frank discussion of male genitalia, but I've kept it to what I consider "T" levels…

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Kim found herself staring as Bonnie drove the golf cart back to the Senior's villa. The former bane of her existance wore a carefree smile, and honestly didn't seem to mind that she was wearing grungy clothing and had grease smudged on her hands, on her face and ground in under her nails.

"What's wrong, K?" Bonnie asked, a sparkling laugh emerging from her throat, "Never expected me to be a wannabe grease monkey?"

"Something like that?" Kim said questioningly as she flushed at being caught staring. She sighed, looking over the lush greenery that made up so much of La Isla Senior, "What were you two doing, anyway?"

"Oh, Daddy and me were working on an old motorcycle." Bonnie admitted easily, "You remember when we were stuck together back in junior year?" Kim nodded with a roll of her eyes, "Well… The main reason I was so angry that night was because I missed out on a show I liked."

"What, 'Agony County'?" Kim asked after Bonnie's apparent non-sequitur, her tone edgily sarcastic, but the hesitant smile she wore took any potential sting from her words.

Bonnie laughed and shook her head, "No, actually, it was 'Ridez'"

"That show about putting huge sound systems or huge engines in cars or dropping the suspensions and stuff?" Kim queried uncertainly.

"Yes, that's it." Kim stared at her in confusion, obviously not comprehending why that would be a problem. Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Hey, you've _met_ my sisters and mom, do you think I'd have lasted a _day_ if they knew what I wanted to do in high school? And don't forget, _we_ were always at each other's throats… Even if you wouldn't have meant it badly, one mention of me watching _that_ show and everything I gave a damn about at the time would've gone bye-bye!"

"You have a point…" Kim confessed, "When I was trying to rebuild the Sloth the first time, I watched a lot of car shows, that was one of them. It was almost as bad as watching wrestling with Ron or Monique!"

"Yeah, it was kinda cheesy," Bonnie admitted with a wince, but continued in an enthusiastic tone, "But they did amazing work!"

"Well, I guess," Kim commented, deciding to change the topic before the teal eyed teen could go off like Monique did with wrestling. She turned back to face Bonnie, hesitating slightly before asking, "Speaking of parents… You looked pretty comfortable calling Triple-S 'Daddy'…"

"I know, right?" Bonnie nodded, the question seemingly expected, "Honestly? It _is_ easy, a lot easier than I ever thought it'd be. He's been more of a father to me, hell, more of a _parent_, than either of my birth parents. I mean, even the servants and employees here are closer to me than my family back home!"

"Oh?" Kim said, wondering despite Bonnie's apparent new attitude if it was all because of the Senior's money, or honest feelings.

"Yeah," Bonnie confirmed with a soft smile, "I mean, yeah, he spends a lot of money on Junior and I both, but honestly, that's not it." Kim felt for a moment as if Bonnie had read her mind, and felt consternation at her own thoughts welling up inside her.

Bonnie stopped speaking for a moment as they pulled into the covered cart port next to the multi-car garage. She took the key out of the ignition, idly twisting the bead chain connecting the key to others in her fingers as she sought the words to describe her feelings.

"It's hard to explain, I mean, he… I dunno…" Bonnie scrunched her eyebrows together, shaking her head as she got out of the cart. She waved Kim after her before leaning close to a retinal scanner, then entered the garage door, holding it open for Kim. The red-head followed Bonnie inside, where the teal eyed teen hung the key next to a sink and began washing her hands with a strong smelling citrus and pumice mechanic's soap.

"I hate how that stuff feels…" Kim said in a distracted tone. Most of her attention was on the garage itself. Kim's first impression was its size. She'd been on military bases with larger garages or motor pools, and you could lose the Senior's entire villa in GJ headquarter's vehicle hangar; the Senior's garage, at over thirty feet tall, fifty feet deep and almost one hundred feet long, was positively immense in a private residence.

As she surveyed the room, the red-head couldn't help but feel the garage would make even a career gearhead like Motor Ed proud. "Yeah, but it works!" Bonnie countered as she finished up.

Kim nodded absently as she continued to gaze around the space, guessing that there were at least twenty vehicles there. The vehicular menagerie ranged from classics to the most modern sports and touring cars and motorcycles, and peculiarly included an abused but serviceable looking Land Cruiser sitting in one corner. The walls were lined with workbenches and carefully maintained but well worn tools, posters and various bits of memorabilia.

There were four hydraulic lifts set into the floor, one of which was up and occupied by a newer Ferrari with its drivetrain half taken out, and two hydraulic bike lifts. On the closest of the bike lifts sat the frame of a 1970s vintage motorcycle, a torn down engine sitting on a moveable bench next to it.

"That's a '78 Ducati. 900GTS model…" Bonnie's proud declaration startled Kim out of her staring, "It's gonna be my baby when we're done with it! I might end up liking it more than my 1098…"

Kim followed Bonnie's almost shy nod towards a late model Ducati sport bike. Its body was a high gloss black, except for a single, bright red length of the frame peeking through the cowlings, angling from just in front of the fuel tank to the rear frame area. It reminded Kim vaguely of Hirotaka's fluorescent green bike, but with a leaner, more agile appearance.

"Daddy knows how much I love bikes, so he got me that when I turned nineteen in May," Bonnie explained in a fidgety, sheepish fashion, "And the 900 used to be his when he raced back in the 70s and early 80s. I asked him if we could rebuild it last month and we've been working on it since."

Kim wasn't sure what to think of Bonnie's easy declaration about the expensive gifts, especially taken in with the strangely embarrassed way she referred to them. The Bonnie she'd gone to high school with would have been exclaiming loudly and proudly how she deserved them. Now, however, she seemed to appreciate the gift as a gift, and was actually embarrassed at the expense at that; the entire concept threw the red-head off. "So you're helping him rebuild the bike?" Kim finally asked, unsure what else to say.

"Yep!" Bonnie declared proudly, "He used to do all the work on his bikes, and I know he could've had it running in an afternoon… Well, if he had the parts, anyway; but I didn't know much about fixing them outside of books and TV. But I love it!" she shrugged, giggling as a thought occurred to her, "We even get Junior to come out and help sometimes, even though he _hates_ getting dirty! But, well… I think Daddy's helping me partly 'cause I want to learn how, but mostly… Mostly we love spending time out here together…"

"Sounds like he cares a lot for you…" Kim said softly.

"That's… I think that's just it… He _cares_, K…" Bonnie nodded in agreement, "He honestly cares about me. He… He loves me like I'm his actual daughter, not just the woman that married his son. Maybe as much as he loves Junior if you can believe it!"

Bonnie considered something for a moment, a grimacing smile twisting her lips, "I mean, it's not 'cause I could give him a potential grandchild, or anything like that. I think it's 'cause I love Junior for Junior, and I've helped Junior grow up and quit being such a spoiled brat! "

Kim barked a startled laugh at Bonnie's dry, self deprecating words, then covered her mouth while she blushed, trying to stifle giggles. Bonnie gave her a grimace, then replied with a rueful grin, "I know, me of all people helping someone grow up and stop being a spoiled brat. Weird, huh?"

"Yeah," Kim agreed, looking away as she remembered the spoiled rich girl that had so often made her and Ron's life hellish in high school. She looked back at Bonnie and had an odd half grimace on her face. When she spoke, her tone was remarkably acerbic, even to her own ears, "You and Junior seem to be good for each other."

"Um, K?" the teal eyed beauty ventured carefully, her eyes showing uncertainty at Kim's intent with the cutting tone.

"I…" Kim began, angry for letting herself lash her frustration at Bonnie, "Sorry, B, the words are what I meant, the tone was me being kinda bitchy… It's been a ferociously long week, and an even longer semester. You look a lot calmer and a lot less… Um…" She waved her hands and looked around unconsciously while she sought the right phrase.

"Like the Queen Bitch of Middleton High?" Bonnie finished, her tone as sharp as Kim's a moment earlier. She sighed and let an understanding smile grace her features, reaching out to lay a hand on Kim's shoulder, "It's okay, really. I thought that's what you meant, K, but with the bad blood between us, and between me and Stoppable, well… I wasn't sure? But I understand you meant the words, not the tone, 'kay?"

Kim smiled ruefully at the teal eyed teen, "If you say so, I won't argue… I mean, this is a huge change for just three months, you have to admit."

"Yeah, but it looks like you've changed a bit too, K." Bonnie said with a half smirk.

"Really?" Kim asked, her ironic tone making it more a statement than a true question

"Well, duh! You'd have probably ripped into me about the bike just a few months back," Bonnie considered that for a moment, "_And_ you wouldn't have said something like 'bitchy', either."

"No, I wouldn't have." Kim sighed in agreement, "Um, B, where is Junior, anyway?"

"Oh, he flew out to Paris to get a part for the 900 and some champagne," Bonnie answered as she unlocked and went through the inner door, holding it for Kim, "It's for some party Daddy's throwing tomorrow night." She paused, a grimace on her face as she started down the hallway beyond the door, "And he wanted to stock up on some hair care products."

"Oh, God, he _still_ uses Le' Goop?" Kim giggled as she closed the door behind her, the thought of Junior still using the expensive hair gel after so many years striking her as hilarious. Bonnie nodded, pursing her lips at Kim's shocked expression and outburst of mirth.

"He… Not nearly as much, only when we go out to do some clubbing or something!" Bonnie defended weakly, a smile curling up her lip at Kim's reaction nonetheless, "He uses some cheap salon stuff now, says it feels better on his scalp…"

"Yeah?" Kim smirked, her snickering starting to rise in frequency, "D'you… Remember when I got… Ron to get that haircut?" Bonnie nodded, her gaze asking where Kim was going with her question. She took a few deep breaths before continuing, trying hard not to laugh, "He… He was acting… A lot like Junior…"

"Omigod, K!" Bonnie cried in seeming protest, her eyes bugging and shoulders shaking with the effort to repress her own amusement, "You mean… You're not saying, Le' Goop is what made him so ditzy, are you?" She spoke the words in a rush, trying to give Kim a severely reproving look.

Kim, who almost had herself back under control, nodded and resumed her giggling with increased vigor. "You did… Did say h-he's not… Using it t-too much anym-more!" Kim stuttered out, her knees buckling. She found herself falling into an awkward squat, and she threw her arms out to the walls in a feeble attempt to keep herself upright.

Bonnie fell against the wall with raucous laughter of her own, slowly sliding down the wall, landing soundly on her rump. Over the course of the next few minutes, they tried to stop their mutual laughter several times, but every time one of them looked at the other, they started all over.

Finally, short of breath and dizzy, their giggling calmed. Kim groaned lightly as the head rush of incoming oxygen struck her, while Bonnie held her sides from the almost painful laughter.

"I needed that…" Kim muttered, blinking like a punch drunk fighter.

"Yeah," Bonnie agreed, swallowing against the dryness in her throat from all the laughter, "It felt… Good to laugh with you, Kim."

Kim nodded in agreement as she pushed herself up, swaying a bit, but finally composed enough to speak. Deciding on a safer topic, she sputtered one last titter before asking, "Junior has a pilot's license?"

"Yeah," Bonnie answered, chortling a couple more times herself before she continued, "Yeah, he learned from, oh, what's her name? That girl you used to fight with the flaming hands, taught at MHS for a week?"

"Shego?" Kim supplied with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, back when Daddy was still an 'evil villain'…" She sniggered briefly, "Y'know, Daddy's way too nice to be a real villain, I'm glad he quit… Anyway, when we first started dating, Junior decided to make the flying legal. He'd already logged enough hours in the simulators and real flight, and because of La Isla Senior's status as a semi-autonomous protectorate of both Spain and France with its own laws, Daddy convinced a few people to allow Junior to keep his flight hours."

"Wow," Kim said with slightly widened eyes, reaching out to offer Bonnie a hand up, "And I thought she just showed him how to fight and steal things!"

"Well," Bonnie said with a blush as she began to remove the coveralls, revealing Shrewd Value sweatpants and matching tee-shirt, "He did steal my heart!"

"Bonnie Rockwaller… Rather, Bonnie _Senior_, a romantic at heart?" Kim asked with a light snicker. "And wearing Smarty Mart sweats? What's the world coming to?"

"Yeah, yeah, and I'd have _died_ from embarrassment at the beginning of senior year!" Bonnie agreed, "But I learned a few things myself when Daddy and I were trying to teach Junior to be less… Poncey, I guess. My suggestion to Daddy that he let me handle the money and limiting us to half of the allowance my parents ever gave me for a couple months helped! Well, outside of Junior flying to Middleton to visit me, I mean."

"Wow, that would make it, what, about three quarters of my allowance before I started working at CB, right?" Kim asked, following a nodding Bonnie towards a rather large kitchen, "And now you know how I felt before I started working there!"

"Yep. I remember… Speaking of remembering, K…" Kim cocked her head at Bonnie as the other girl paused to open an industrial looking refrigerator. She rummaged around for a moment, grabbing a bottle of an incredibly dark looking beer with 'Obsidian' on the label and raising an eyebrow at Kim. "It's legal here."

"I know," Kim answered, "I'll just have a soda; too early for anything else, even if it _is_ legal."

"Suit yourself," Bonnie chirped, grabbing a Coke and tossing it at Kim. The two girls opened their respective drinks and took several swigs before Bonnie sighed, "Anyway, remembering. K… Um, _Kim_… For what it's worth… I'm sorry. I mean… Y'know, for being such a rancid bitch to you and Ron during high school…"

"I…" Kim started, "Yeah, we kinda went back and forth on that, Bonnie. I'm sorry too."

The two young women stared at each other for a moment, and Bonnie raised her beer towards Kim with an uncertain smile. The red-head felt a similar smile spread over her face as she returned the salute. The tapping of plastic against glass sounded as dichotomously as their high school personalities, and drew a startled laugh from the two of them.

"So, Kim…" Bonnie sighed after a long pull of her beer, "How's Go City treating you two?"

"Honestly?" Kim began, "it's been rough. Though it wasn't too bad at the beginning?"

"Oh?" Bonnie asked, leaning forward.

"Yeah, Ron got a _real_ job before I'd even seen the campus!" Kim answered proudly, "And before you ask, not Bueno Nacho or Smarty Mart, but as one of the five sous chefs at La Spécialité!"

"Ron, an actual chef in training?" Bonnie smirked, "Somehow I'm not surprised, as good as he is!"

"Not just chef in training," Kim corrected with an almost coy grin, "But within the first week, he was promoted to first assistant sous chef. That means there's only the sous chef and executive chef above him in the kitchen proper!"

"Good," Bonnie said firmly, educing a blink from Kim, "I guess he's stepped up more than on missions, huh?"

"Yep, and he makes good money, too. His parents helped out by letting him into his savings to get an apartment for us, and he found a nice duplex a quick walk to GCU. He even had the money paid back with his first check!"

Bonnie started slightly from that information, obviously figuring out how much Ron was making because of the prices of duplexes near GCU. After a moment, she smiled devilishly, "I guess having an apartment is better than a dorm, especially if you two decide to do more than kiss, hmmm?"

"Oh, it's definitely more convenient for _that_…" Kim smiled innocently at Bonnie, making the teal eyed woman's jaw drop when she continued, "That was taken care of after we left the beach party." At Bonnie's continued silence, Kim expanded, "You remember when you saw us in Upperton and the Sloth was kinda damaged? We kinda got stuck up on Pike's Peak, and we had a picnic basket, a blanket, and no one around for miles, so, well…"

At Kim's shrugging blush, Bonnie let out a short burst of laughter, "So you've already broken in your apartment?"

Bonnie stopped there, biting her tongue as Kim continued wearing her innocent smile. Then the red-head added in a faux sweet tone, "Well, if I remember the laws of La Isla Senior, your marriage had to be consummated within seventy-two hours of the wedding, so have you two broken in your room, or the whole villa for that matter?"

"Well, yes bu-…" Bonnie raised an eyebrow as Kim's innocent smile turned into an evil smirk, realizing Kim had asked and answered the very same way with her question. "Oh, Possible, you've gotten _sneaky_!"

"Maybe a little bit…" Kim answered with an amiable tone.

"Well, obviously the answer is 'yes' for both of us," Bonnie chuckled, sipping at her beer. She noticed that both her and Kim's drinks were empty and got up, going to the refrigerator to get a refresh for each of them, "Did you two have much trouble figuring out how things work, or did you two luck out in that department?"

"It was awkward at first," Kim answered honestly, not sure why, but feeling as comfortable with Bonnie as she would have with Monique. She shrugged it off, marveling once again at the changed teen in front of her as Bonnie handed her another Coke, "But after practice, well… We knew how it worked then, we still know how it works now, as well as what we like and don't like, and still finding new things. How about Junior? It seems like he would be… Difficult to train."

"Hardly," Bonnie scoffed confidently, "He's got his dad's physical advantages when he's not sitting in front of a mirror and grooming himself. I mean, he was kinda… _Unsure_ with me, at first, but it got better _real_ quick!"

"Why was he unsure?" Kim asked uncertainly, then stared at Bonnie blankly as a deep crimson blush spread quickly below her neckline.

"Um, 'cause he's, ah…" Bonnie, flustered by the topic, snickered, "Sorry… Y'know, there was a point I'd have ragged on him about this, but he worries about it… He's… He… Finishes quick. He's real sensitive… Um…"

"Not necessarily a bad thing, if rumors about you were true." Kim reassured Bonnie, earning a jerky nod from the teal eyed teen.

"If it was about _my_ sensitivity, then yeah…" Bonnie grimaced slightly, chuckling.

"Just the reverse for Ronnie and I!" Kim smirked, earning a rude gesture and a raspberry from Bonnie. Kim astonished Bonnie by returning both gestures and herself somewhat for her own crude reaction. They both laughed after the briefest of pauses, and Kim continued with a smirk, "I mean, okay, he's no porn star as far as size, but that's a good thing! As, um, small as I am, I'll take a little above average, please and thank you!"

"Well," Bonnie said with a considering expression, "It's a good thing you never seriously went after Brick."

Kim nodded, wincing slightly, "I saw pictures on Hope's phone during one of the 'breaks' you two had…"

Bonnie tittered, smiling, "Well, as far as Junior, that's something I'd have bragged about back in high school. I mean, he's actually… Y'know, fairly, uh, y'know, hung." Bonnie's final words were a barely audible, embarrassed grumble, and it was Kim's turn to gape, blushing herself. "I mean, okay, he's not _quite_ porn star material, but he's only a little bit longer than Brick, but he is kinda, well, bigger… Uhm…"

Kim snapped her mouth shut and let a devilish smirk descend over her features, unable to keep herself from taunting Bonnie on the subject, "He's, um, what, Bonnie?"

"He's _definitely_ porn material in thickness!" Bonnie giggled, using her hands to accentuate her words, "It's like the difference between a Ottis Meier Jumbo Weiner and a Pop-Pop Porter's Porterhaus Bratwurst! The Porterhaus is just a bit longer, but…"

"Oh, I see…" Kim's blush intensified, and she shook her head, trying to think of something to say to Bonnie's comment. Unfortunately for her, the first thing out of her mouth furthered the potential for awkwardness of their conversation, "Like I said, I'm kinda, well, I guess _very_ tight, so… I know I'm glad Ronnie's just a bit above average, well, a bit thick for how long he is, but thank God he's not Brick or even Junior's siz-…"

Both women gazed at each other for several long seconds after Kim stopped herself, matching blushes gracing their features, before Bonnie finally choked out, "Why are we comparing our boys' junk?"

"I have no idea!" Kim gurgled out, a goofy smile on her face despite the awkwardness.

"We will never speak of this again!" they both said with a laugh, Kim adding, "Jinx, you owe me a pop!"

Bonnie indicated the pops in front of Kim, "Consider both of those my payment, Kim." she smiled sweetly, then blew a raspberry at the red-head.

"Fine, fine…" Kim answered with a roll of her eyes, "Anyway, yeah, everything's obviously fine in that department. For the both of us, apparently!" She paused for a moment, before returning to a safer topic, "As for GCU… I'm seriously thinking about delaying 'til summer semester next year, maybe fall…"

"Why?" Bonnie asked sincerely, leaning towards Kim in interest.

"Classes were good overall, but one of my professors, the head of the Math Department, was a real… Jerk."

"How's that?" Bonnie prodded after a moment of silence.

Kim, not realizing she'd gone silent, blinked and then continued in a somewhat sheepish tone, "Let's just say, it really had me in a bad place… Um, and leave it at that for the time being? I really don't want to go into full bitch rant mode right now…"

"Okay," Bonnie agreed easily, thinking for a moment. A question for the red-head presented itself after a moment, "Run into anyone from MHS there? I'm thinking you two picked up friends at GCU pretty easy, but…"

"Yeah…" Kim nodded, seeing the pang of loneliness in Bonnie's eyes. "We've made some friends, both from the school and through Ron's work… And we _have_ run into a few people from Middleton." Kim thought for a moment, nodding as she ticked off several names in her head, "From MHS, we've run into Tara, Alex Eressos, Brick's older brother Brock, Marcella, Hope, Big Mike, Amelia DuMont… But the only ones we're really close to are Tara and Alex!"

"What's Tara studying? She wasn't sure when she went over there." Bonnie's eager tone drew a laugh from Kim.

"She's an engineering student of all things!" Kim shook her head, "And Ron and I have become her BFFs as Monique would say..."

"Well, it's good Tara has people like you two as friends then," she nodded firmly, "I was worried about her, especially the way that jerk Jason was getting with her during the last quarter…" Bonnie paused as a big smile came over her face, excited questions about her best friend throughout high school bouncing around and her tone jumping from considering to excited in a few short breaths, "Anyway, first, where do you guys and Tara usually hang out?"

"Actually," Kim chirped, taken slightly aback at the enthusiastic tone in Bonnie's voice. Kim's smile spoke volumes as she started talking about Tara, "She's living in the duplex next to us wi-…"

Kim's sudden, nervous stop and yet another light blush drew a raised eyebrow from Bonnie. The teal eyed teen opened her mouth to prod the red-head about it, but a bright, "Ladies!" from Ron as he walked into the kitchen with Triple-S stopped her.

"Apologies about how long it took," Triple-S called out as he entered with Ron in tow. He stopped what he was going to say and glanced at the nearly empty bottle in Bonnie's hand and the empty one near her elbow, "Now, Bon-Bon…"

"Don't worry, Daddy," Bonnie smiled at Triple-S, finishing off her beer with a few long gulps, "I'm not going to get drunk at 11 AM; I learned _that_ lesson!"

"Daddy?" Ron began to question, a goofy smile on his face as he looked at the elder Senior, "Booya, Triple-S!"

"Wha?" Bonnie and Kim both boggled at Ron, while Triple-S raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"I never thought I'd hear Bonnie call _any_ parent by something like 'Daddy'," Ron smiled, Rufus enthusiastically agreeing on his shoulder, "That's completely bon-diggity!"

"It is quite… Bon-diggity?" Triple-S' questioning gaze earned an enthusiastic nod from Ron and a giggle from Kim and Bonnie. Then he smiled at Bonnie, "Yes, _very_ bon-diggity!"

Kim and Bonnie giggled at the sight of Triple-S and Ron fist bumping, the two men still sharing some indefinable, but obvious rapport. Kim stared down at her drink briefly, then back at the aristocrat, a vague feeling of guilt washing through her, "Thanks for the hospitality, Mr. Senior…"

"Think nothing of it, Kimberly." he dismissed easily. "And please, call me Francisco, both of you… You helped me better understand energy conservation, which in turn allowed me to save money, and you were my favorite foes when I was a villain!" he paused and glanced significantly at Bonnie, "You also saved my daughter from that… Person, Camille Leon, and returned her to my son. It seems… Appropriate, does it not?"

"Um, wow," Kim said, her shock matched by Ron and Rufus', "Thanks, Mr-… Er, Francisco…"

"Thank _you_, Kimberly." Triple-S smiled, "Oh, Bonnie, according to the tower, Junior was on approach as Ronald and I were leaving, and I believe he told them he had more luck finding the parts than we'd hoped! He should be back to the villa in the next half hour."

Bonnie let out a squeal that was almost deafening in the kitchen, even as large as it was. She jumped up and bolted around the table to give Triple-S a hug and a kiss on the cheek before remembering that Ron and Kim were there. She gave them a blushing smile and half hid her face against Triple-S' chest, "Sorry if that was a bit loud…"

"Wow, you weren't kidding, Francisco!" Ron enthused, his huge grin his apparent answer to Bonnie's apology, "She _is_ a lot happier."

"And _you're_ still a doofus!" Bonnie teased as she walked over to Ron, earning a startled squeak from Rufus, who hadn't realized how close she'd come. Kim narrowed her eyes at Bonnie's words, her mouth quirking slightly as the teal eyed teen smirked at the mole rat's reaction. The red-head blinked as Bonnie reached out to give the naked mole rat a hesitant pat on the head, earning a strange half-purr, half-yelp from the rodent. "And you're actually kinda cute… Rufus, right?"

The naked mole rat half ducked behind Ron's head in a bashful manner, chittering an agreement at the teal eyed beauty. Ron waited for Rufus to drop the bashful act before favoring Bonnie with a goofy grin. "Rufus is more badical than the Naco! And I should know, I invented it!"

"Oh, God, do I remember." Bonnie agreed, wincing slightly at the memories Ron's comment brought back, "Half the girls in school embarrassed themselves into idiocy, including me!"

"Yup!" Ron agreed easily, "Besides, _everyone_ knows that _I_ know I'm a doofus, but Triple-S likes me and I've got the most amazingly awesome girlfriend ever, so it's all good!"

"Definitely still a doofus," Bonnie laughed in a bright, good natured manner, defusing the tension that had been building in Kim at the nickname. The brunette shook her head and stared Ron straight in the eyes, then surprised everyone, except perhaps Triple-S, by punching him lightly in the shoulder, "But like me and my bitchiness, you're not as bad as you used to be."

"Sometimes," Kim said with a snicker, earning a raspberry from Rufus and a laugh from both Bonnie and Ron, "But he's gotten better."

"Hey, the Ron-Man's all about self-immolation!" Ron said in a melodramatically excited manner, holding his hands and gesturing in a surprisingly good imitation of a self-help guru on a late night infomercial.

"I do believe you meant self-improvement?" Triple-S chuckled in reply. Ron thought for a moment, then nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah, I think you're right?" he asked while scratching his head. He took one last lingering gaze around the kitchen and turned to Triple-S, "You were right about the kitchen, it's equipped about as good as the one at work!"

"Ah, yes, Junior expressed a desire to learn to cook, and Bon-Bon has been learning along side him." Triple-S said with a fond smile, drawing a quiet squeak of embarrassment from his daughter-in-law, "I added this in late June, and Chef Rodger has been teaching them. Junior still has some work to do when it comes to sauces, but he makes an excellent soufflé, but Bon-Bon's become quite good at sauces, and is excellent with chicken and rabbit!"

"Daddy…" Bonnie squawked in protest, giving Kim an apologetic look.

"It's okay, Bonnie," Kim sighed in a theatrically resigned fashion, "I've accepted that me and kitchen appliances aren't meant to be in the same place at the same time…"

"She doesn't make blenders explode anymore, though!" Ron chirped, missing the glare he received from Kim.

"Ah, Ronald," Triple-S interceded on the blond's behalf with the deft touch of a fencer, "You mentioned that you and Kimberly were a bit famished, yes? How about you, Bonnie?"

"I could use a bite to eat." Bonnie agreed as she went to the fridge to grab herself a drink. A Diet Coke, Kim noticed with a light snort of amusement, her irritation at Ron forgotten.

"Mind if I cook something up, then?" Ron asked, almost quivering like a puppy awaiting a treat.

"Indeed you may, Ronald. In fact I was going to sugges-…" Triple-S stopped when he realized Ron had disappeared with his first three words and was already rummaging through the refrigerator. "Ah, youth… My pardon, but Ethan and I have a golf game that was interrupted a few weeks ago to get back to. If you need me, I shall be on the course!"

"Have fun, Daddy!" Bonnie said as she jumped up to give him another hug. When she turned back towards the table, she wore an open, innocently joyous smile on her face. Kim found herself in awe of Bonnie's attitude, especially the slight mistiness in her teal eyes as Triple-S left.

Bonnie blinked a few times to dry her eyes, then turned her full attention to Kim with a familiar, yet paradoxically unfamiliar gleam in her eyes, "And you, Kim, mentioned you live next to Tara? How is she? I've been kinda worried; we haven't spoken since she got ready to move over to Go City! Is she still with Jason, or did they break up?"

"Um, she's…" Kim began, looking at Ron for a moment. Ron smiled as he walked, arms full, from the refrigerator to the counter by the stove. He shrugged, placing a double armload of salad and sandwich fixings and a soda on the counter before washing his hands and setting out to find a skillet.

Kim unintentionally stalled answering Bonnie by boggling at the load of food Ron had laid out on the counter, "Ron, we're three people and a naked mole rat…"

"I've seen those two eat, Kim," Bonnie said with a raised eyebrow, then smirked as Kim looked at her, "And don't you dare leave me in suspense about Tara! 'She's…' what?"

"She's seeing someone… Um, it's _definitely_ not Jason, they broke up on graduation day! Or any other _guys_ like that, for that matter…" Kim answered hesitantly, staring at Bonnie nervously.

"Um, '_Definitely_ not Jason', and not 'any other _guys_ like' what, exactly?" Bonnie asked, gently pinching her lower lip between a thumb and forefinger as Kim reacted to her questions.

The red-head seemed nervous about the answer, and was blushing furiously; the brunette turned Kim's phrasing over in her mind, especially the emphasis she'd used, and then it clicked. Her teal eyes flew wide as she excitedly slapped the table with the palms of both hands, "Omigod! Did she finally come out?"

Ron, who had been taking a long swig of his soda while the pan heated up, began to laugh in surprise, then choked and sprayed half a mouthful along the counter and wall. Kim stood to try and help, but Bonnie had already jumped up and grabbed a towel. Instead, Kim walked around to rub the blond's back lightly until he let out a strangled, "You knew?"

"I _suspected_," Bonnie corrected him as she handed him a towel, then set to cleaning up some of the spray on the far end of the counter, "I bet she's been worried I wouldn't want to be her friend anymore, right?"

"Um, something along those lines," Kim said, her blush deepening slightly, "Her girlfriend's also… Not exactly the kind of girl most people would expect her to get together with?"

"Either a flannel wearing butch or a punk rocker." Bonnie said with certainty, a laugh in her voice as she continued, "If not a bit of both!"

"Mostly punk, she does dress up when she wants to take Tara to a fancy place, and a little bit of a butch around the house." Kim stared for a moment, before smiling in wonder, "You do know Tara…"

"Yeah, T and I have been friends almost as long as you and Ron!" Bonnie replied with a smile, sitting back down at the table as Ron took over cleaning up his soda spray, "Which is probably why she was freaked out, I suppose… I'm happy for her, though, as long as this girl's better for her than Jason! She still have the same number?"

"No, she switched to a Go City number when she changed to a regular cell plan instead of a pre-pay." Kim said as she pulled her Kimmunicator out, sitting down close to Bonnie on the same side of the table, "But I can give it to you, I'm sure she and Alex wouldn't mind."

"Alex…" Bonnie drew out the name, smirking slightly, "As in Eressos?" Kim nodded and Bonnie's smirk became a glowing smile, "She was always pretty cool, she tutored me in English the last semester of school… And she talked about Tara from time to time, not surprised she went after her if Jason broke up with her! And thanks, Kim." Bonnie excitedly entered the number into her own phone, obviously looking forward to talking to her best friend after a few months. "So did she or Alex drag you and Stoppable along to any punk shows?"

"They actually kinda got KP into it!" Ron chimed in as he placed four ham and cheese sandwiches in the skillet, then went to mixing up the mustard and ketchup, "At least after Tara heard KP playing, what was it she called it?"

"Um, 'Radio friendly pop-punk that sucks monkey-butt' or something like that?" Kim answered, "And, yeah, the stuff her and Alex got me listening to was a lot better…"

"Not surprised…" Bonnie admitted, "I mean, even I never had any real problems with her, even if she did like blaring punk through her MP3 player. But otherwise? Hell, she managed to look good wearing what she normally wore, and the only time our mutual interests crossed was when Hiro was in Middleton!"

"Yeah, that was a… Really weird couple weeks, wasn't it?" Bonnie and Ron both grunted laughs of agreement, and Kim shook her head, "Still, I never thought I'd like the really serious punk rock, but… It grows on you pretty quick, y'know?"

"Already experimenting with music, and it's not even a full year into college, Kim?" Bonnie asked with a raised eyebrow. Kim blinked, when she saw Bonnie had devilish smirk crossing her face that reminded Kim of a certain mint-hued thief, "Or has it already gone further tha-…"

She stopped speaking as Kim reached out like a striking snake, somehow gently as she pinched Bonnie's lips shut with her fingers, "Not going there, 'kay?"

"Fhure." Bonnie agreed, surprised by both the suddenness of the gesture and something dark in Kim's eyes. Kim released her lips, and Bonnie leaned forwards slightly, concern clouding her expression, "You want to talk about it?"

"It's a family thing, so… Not right now?" Kim requested tightly, before sighing, "Um… Do you think Mr. Sen-… Francisco would mind if Ron and I stayed a couple days? I know you said we should earlier, but…"

"Sure! I asked if I should suggest it when you guys were landing." Bonnie shrugged, "'Sides, getting away from everything for a couple days might do you good!"

"Maybe…" Kim grimaced, her eyes looking towards Ron but staring off at something only she could see.

"Oh, don't maybe _me_, Possible!" Bonnie chortled as Kim glanced back at her, "You could probably use a lot more than a couple days! You know, take time to get away from school, family, even fighting all the weirdoes?"

"I dunno…" Kim shrugged, "A couple days sounds good, since, well…"

"Yeah," Bonnie nodded firmly, "You've been going at things non-stop since freshman year. I should know since I tried to keep up with you!" Kim nodded a bit uncertainly, and Bonnie continued with a satisfied snort, "But, since it sounds like you're staying here for a couple days, well, I'd kinda like to hang out with you. I mean, since I've done at least a little growing up, I'd like to try and actually know you, at least a little bit, you know?"

"Thanks, Bonnie…" Ron said into the silence as Kim tried to formulate a response, floored by Bonnie's last comment. He had four diagonally cut sandwiches plated on one platter, and a salad in a huge bowl, and set them down in the middle of the table. When three sets of eyes turned to him, he grabbed four plates and smaller bowls, flashing a huge grin at them, "And here you go, ladies and naked mole rat: grilled ham 'n' aged cheddar on chibatta bread and a mixed greens, cashew, blueberry and date summer salad with a Southwest style tomato and mustard vinaigrette!"

"Tomato and must-…" Kim objected, looking at the cupboard, "But you just mixed a few spices with mustard and ketchup!"

"And that, KP," Ron said airily as he sat next to her, placing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close, "Is one of the secrets of a money making chef in training!"

The two young women and Rufus laughed at Ron's nose in the air posturing and dug in. "Oh my God…" Bonnie moaned after taking a bite of the salad, "How did you get _better_ at cooking, Stoppable?"

"Amazing, isn't it? Kim agreed with a proud smile at her fiancé.

As the three of them caught up on the last few months some more, Kim stole a few glances at the tanned former bane of her high school life, considering the extraordinarily positive changes she'd gone through in such a short time. _If this is _Bonnie_ after a couple months away from everything,_ Kim concluded as she into Ron, a small, contemplative smile on her face, _Maybe taking more than a few days off from everything might be a good idea?_

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Wade Load sat blinking at his monitor for several long seconds. "That was the most unexpected call I ever thought I'd receive." he said with a baffled, yet excited expression. Things had been relatively calm on the villain front in the five days since Kim and Ron had come back from La Isla Senior, and he was honestly getting a little bored with research and online gaming.

But that would be a thing of the past for the next week, possibly two! He had just made a deal that would not only help Kim on her vacation, but could lead to helping her later; and while he knew he shouldn't have been, the computer genius found himself surprised that he had Ron to thank for spurring the idea in the first place.

He smiled and set himself to typing, making some quick notes for the designs he'd have ready to go by the next morning. While he was typing, he reached over and initiated a video chat, calling the modified Kimmunicator he'd given Dr. Drew Lipsky, formerly Dr. Drakken. The very same man that now held a Nobel Prize, had massive and positive peer appreciation, and the man whom, along with the blue scientist's girlfriend, Wade had recently started a business relationship.

"Drew, hope I'm not interrupting!" Wade exclaimed excitedly, not paying attention to the window he'd opened.

"Admittedly your timing could have been better, Nerdlinger!" Wade blinked and paused in his typing; Drew only used Shego's old nickname for him if he had called at a really bad time.

Wade quickly checked the time and date, realizing belatedly that it was Wednesday night at 8:23 PM. "Awww, crap, Drew. It's your date night, I'm sorry!" The black boy blushed deeply when he glanced at the voice chat window and saw it was accepted as 'Audio Only'. _I hope they're just on their way to dinner…_

"No worries, Wade, I got out late." a familiar feminine voice called out. Wade's blush lessened at the laughing tone of his other business partner, Dr. Vivian Frances Porter, and he released a sigh of relief that he hadn't caught them at a bad time.

The blacked out window blinked to life to show a very feminine hand drawing away from the screen below the modified Kimmunicator's camera. _That's a view I'll _never_ complain about!_ he thought as he got a up angle shot of Vivian in a low cut, elegant evening gown. The phone's angle changed to take in the both of them, and Wade smiled as he took in Drew's rather dapper looking charcoal and light grey pinstriped suit, "You two look great!"

"Thank you, Wade," Drew smiled at the young man, "I do hope it's important, though?"

"Important or not, that was _mean_, Drew…" Vivian pouted at Drew with a bit of a frown thrown in for good measure, "Almost evil."

"Well, yes, Vivi, it was." Drew admitted with a genial, if somewhat evil smile, adjusting his tie slightly when he caught the dark pout his girlfriend was giving him, "But evil, my dear, is very hard habit to give up! And I also assumed it would be a good object lesson about checking the date and time before calling?"

"Hey, he's got a point, Ms. Porter." Wade smiled weakly, "I'm still getting used to interacting with more than KP, Ron and my parents, or people in Everlot. Um, do you have a few minutes, or should I call back later?"

"Oliver?" Vivian called out to the cybertronic robot that was driving them to their dinner date, "How long until we're at the restaurant?"

"About fifteen minutes, Vivian." Oliver replied in a pleased tone.

"Thank you, Oliver." Vivian smiled, turning back to Wade, "So what's going on, Wade?"

"I just got a call from a client!" he crowed, "I know, I should have called you first, but the client was rather… Insistent, and considering who it was, what it was for and how much they were offering?"

"Well, who was it?" Drew asked, "I don't want to accidentally become suppliers for Jack Hench, after all!"

"Drew, Drew, Drew, you think _I'd_ fall for that?" Wade asked, continuing when Drew shrugged in judicious agreement, "No, I trust who called and why, though a few months ago… Anyway, I'm digressing, and I'll get to that that in a bit!"

"Well, don't leave us in suspense, Wade!" Drew cried as Wade hammered out some information into one of his keyboards.

"Sorry, had to get that typed in while the idea was fresh," Wade said, then turned back to the camera, "The important thing is that we've been offered full price plus fifty percent to expedite delivery for three flight model bodysuits. They want to use the armored version of the material we used for Kim and Shego's new work outfits, with full CIC suite helmets, as well as eight Mark Six SD training bots, and a full mission set like Kim's, with some of the stuff we gave Shego. They also asked if we could bring Monique in on the designs, but while that's not a surprise, they _did_ offer to fly us to New York to set up the equipment there when she gets the designs fleshed out…"

"Wow…" Vivian blinked a few times, "Why do they want this, Wade?"

"Uh, you know how Felix Renton and Kim's cousin Joss are going to work in conjunction with Team Go to assist GJ? Since GJ's too busy with post-invasion clean up and petty dictators to deal with run of the mill villains and supervillains here in the States, I mean?" The two scientists nodded and Wade continued, his excitement building again, "Well, I was just contacted by someone over in Europe that wants to set up a team over there for the same reason! It's going to be three people…"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Agent Du!" Betty Director barked as she walked down the steps into the training area for Global Justice's Strasbourg, France facility. The huge, underground room was set up in a 'Post-Invasion, Romeo-Bravo Three, Winter, Random Changes' scenario, which meant the training area looked like a neighborhood torn asunder, but with random changes set by the training coordinator to ensure the scenario wasn't a sure bet for people that had witnessed it before… Or helped design it, as the man she addressed had.

"Yes, ma'am!" Will Du barked back, bracing to attention.

"It's good to see you back to the form you were in during your first four years as a GJ agent, Agent Du," Betty commented, a considering look on her face, "But it seems as if you've bent at least five rules and regulations during this training exercise…"

"Yes, ma'am," he said easily, a very slight Texan drawl he'd picked back up during his leave time with his family, "Total've 'leven if you include suggested agent guidelines on actions an' reactions, ma'am," Agent Du responded with a smile that, while holding the strangely aristocratic aspect it always had, was not nearly the sneer he'd been using for the last several years during his climb through GJ's ranks. "It was necess'ry, however, t'finish the scenario with minimum casualties on either side 's well 's minimizin' collateral damage."

"My summation as well," Betty concluded, a pleased smile on her face. "It looks like watching a teenaged boy and girl and two supervillains save the world, not to mention the human resources department forcing you to take the vacation time you've built up, has paid off…"

"Yes, ma'am…" Will had the decency to look contrite as he reached up to scratch the back of his neck, "Visitin' with the family helped to tell me jus' how much of a, as my mother said, 'stiff necked imbecile' I'd become…"

"Perhaps, Agent Du…" Betty hid a smile at the reactions of the surrounding agents. Some of them had known him when he was a young agent while a few others had not come to know about him until after December, 2001. The rest were too new, and had heard rumors about his stiff necked, by the book with no room for flexibility attitude; now they stood staring at him when they thought no one else was looking, as if flabbergasted at the inconsistency of those same rumors.

Of everyone there, only Betty and the two senior trainers she'd brought with her from Middleton, Colorado's Global Justice Central Headquarters, had known Will before he'd shed his heavy, West Texas accent. They'd also known all three versions of Will Du: the promising agent, the stiff as a board administrator, and now the competent, effective mix of the two. As the head of the agency, Betty was thrilled to see the last one in full evidence in Will at that moment.

Just as she's hoped would happen after ordering HR to send him home on a much needed vacation. With a barely hidden wince, she remembered the surveillance video of just how badly his family, and especially his mother, had ripped into him about his… Anal retentiveness, among other unflattering attributes; and in less than an hour of being home, to boot! But it was good to see him back to even better than what she had once considered his best. _And not a moment too soon, considering the situation…_

With an imperceptible sigh, she made an act of shrugging the GJ standard issue parka around herself, putting her hands in her pockets as she stepped up to him and motioned him to the side with a nod of her head. When they were away from everyone else, she activated the noise generator in her pocket.

"Golf, India, niner. Anything?" she whispered, moving her lips as if whispering in confidence to him as she leaned close, the lips moving in a different pattern than the words she actually spoke. 'Golf, India, niner' was yet another code, which gave them a pre-designed conversation scenario that; if someone were to ask about it in the future, they could refer to the conversation without having two different stories to tip anyone off that the conversation was anything but what they said it was.

The counter-surveillance tactic was one only a few field agents working at GJ could do effectively. Because of that, it was something the Director of GJ and her second in command had practiced again and again recently so it was something they could do at an instinctual level, since it was especially useful during sensitive missions, such as the one Will was performing.

If she were right about this office, she had every reason to worry about saying the wrong thing at the wrong time; doing so could very well bring them a far too intimate and understanding of the phrase, "Stuck in the wolf's den with a raw meat necklace."

"No, ma'am," he shook his head, placing a rueful smile on his face as if she were chewing him out privately after giving him glowing praise, "Nothin' solid beyond my file bein' accessed twice outside of the test two and a half weeks ago. I do have a few leads… I'll keep ya posted while you're speakin' to the EU delegates."

"Good, and Will?" Betty asked, the agent cocking his head slightly at the fond smile on her face, "It _is_ good to see you back your best. Just remember to stay there"

Will gazed at her for a moment, unsure what the glint in her eye meant. Then stood and saluted, using his hesitation to improve his act, "Thank you, ma'am!"

"I'm serious, Will… When you finish your after-action report for the exercises today, actually _try_ and enjoy yourself when you go out tonight, understood?" Betty said as she deactivated the privacy bubble, "As for the rest of you, Will's Tango Team, Team Bravo and Team Echo also have the rest of the day and tonight off, as well as the morning until 11:00 hours. _When_ you've file your after-action reports, of course. Well done, people, well done indeed!"

**Author's Notes**

And there's chapter 2. I was worried about posting it as is, especially considering the rather sizable chunk containing Kim and Bonnie… However, it does have at least some bearing in the future of the story, despite the huge size.

And speaking of Bonnie, quite a change in three and a half months, non? But not unreasonable I think, especially considering how free she is to be herself with the Seniors. I hope it's not too far into unbelievable territory, and while you won't hear much from Bonnie and the Seniors for a few chapters, you will hear from them again!

As for Kim, there's obviously a bit more weighing on her than seems. There's a lot of stress built up in her, and obviously some guilt. The question is, will she be able to deal with it in a constructive manner, or will it cause problems?

And then we get to Will Du and Betty Director. Just what are they up to, hmmm? I know… And no, I'm not telling. I'm evil like that. And, yes, you'll be seeing more of both of 'em, as well as a more thorough explanation of just why his mother could engender quite so… Thorough a removal of the stick up a certain part of his anatomy. ^_^;;

Thanks to Neo for the flow and "Hey, you're being kinda stupid here, Kgs!" beta work, and I hope I caught more errors this time.

And, as always, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and always remember, there's a lot of fics out there to read and enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Ah, München, Deutschland!" the high pitched voice said in a satisfied manner before its owner took a deep, lung stretching breath, "Smells like… Money!"

One of the man's two bodyguards grunted indifferently, and he turned back to them, shrugging his expensively tailored, purple sport coat more comfortably on his shoulders, "Tell ya what, boys, why don't you go enjoy the sights and sounds of Munich for the next couple weeks? I have some things to do that'll best be done solo, and I deposited your monthly check into the bank for ya ahead of time!"

"Sure thing, boss!" the man on the left said, and they both smirked, knowing that they'd be paid in full for getting, as the man on the right had commented a couple hours earlier, 'Screwed, blewed, and tattooed!'

The man nodded to himself as he checked his watch. 10:43 AM, plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and wander around the _Marienplatz_, the central square and administrative center of downtown Munich, Germany. He would gladly wait the hour and seventeen minutes for the show put on by the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, something he always did at least once when he was here.

_Let's see, where to eat, where to eat…_ he thought to himself, rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger. His occasional sweet tooth was acting up, and being quite familiar with Munich, he knew the perfect place for a quick breakfast, _Café Rischart!_

He made his way from the subway entrance to the café, humming random tune to himself. Just as he reached the door, however, a very familiar feminine voice reached his ears, "Falsetto?"

Falsetto Jones froze in his tracks, a mix of happy shock and dread on his face. This was, potentially, a great complication he didn't need, but it seems he would have to deal with. He hoped his dread didn't show as he turned, eyes widening slightly as he took in the vision before him. "H-Helga?" he choked out in German, "I didn't expect to see _you_ here!"

"In the flesh, as you Americans say! And your German has improved _greatly_!" Helga DeMenz, also known by a very select few as the German hero _Diebfluch_, ironically, a name that Falsetto himself had some up with. She had a wide, open smile he hadn't seen on her face in almost a decade and a half as she faced the dark skinned thief.

She had a hip cocked out at him, a hand resting where her waist and hip met, emphasizing the no nonsense, yet flattering business skirtsuit came down to just above her knees, mixing well with the rather masculine jacket and a cobalt blue blouse underneath. He couldn't help but let his eyes travel up her frame, taking in her toned legs, the pleasing flare of her hips, the rather sizable bosom, her powerful arms, and finally up to her chiseled yet feminine face. "What brings you to Germany?"

There was a note of concern in her voice, as if she knew exactly why he was here. Falsetto fought the need to lick his lips and shook his head with a laugh, "I'm retiring my Wolfhounds to a _very_ high class breeding facility in Heidenheim, and since I was here, I figured I'd visit Munich and take in Oktoberfest. I never thought I'd run into you!" He paused a moment, looking her over again, "My goodness, it's been years! How have you been, my dear Mrs. DeMenz?"

Helga's face took on a plastic note, before falling into a remorseful expression. "It's Lange again, Falsetto, and… Not so good, to be honest … My Freidrich was killed during the invasion…"

"I… I'm so sorry…" Falsetto said, dropping into English from shock and unexpected reminiscence.

Back before he'd become a thief, he'd been a member of the US Army, a tank commander specifically, and he and his crew had been stationed in Germany. He'd been dating Helga at the time, but after a drunken argument, they'd decided to 'take a break' in their relationship. It had been both the biggest mistake and best choice he'd ever made. It was a choice he'd have made the same way again.

But he'd made up for it, with one of his proudest moments: the time he'd introduced one of his best friends, a man who had worked with the NATO forces to bring down the then fledgling Hans 'Professor Dementor' DeMenz. The dashing, thirty-three year old hero had been none other than Professor Dementor's nephew, Freidrich DeMenz.

He'd been handsome, tall, lean yet muscular. Despite his apparent leanness, however, he'd been what the many organizations called a supernorm, a human with apparent superpowers. Freidrich's had been superior strength, being literally as strong as fifteen men, but he had to be careful with it, since his body wasn't quite up to the standards of his strength.

A German company had helped with that, providing him with a nanofiber and metallic-ceramic plated suit of powered armor. The armor had also led to his professional moniker: _Der Uhrwerk Ritter_, or The Clockwork Knight in English. And most important of all, he managed to be shy and extroverted at once; all in all, the perfect personality for the secretive, yet proud superhero he was; aperfect match for Helga, in Falsetto's opinion.

The rest, as they say, was history. She'd quickly followed Freidrich into hero work, some of which Falsetto had helped them with, since German heroes had a long history of aiding and being aided by first the German military establishment, and later, NATO forces. And even with the break up, and Helga falling for, and eventually marrying, his best friend, the three of them had been nearly inseparable friends.

Then Falsetto had made his second biggest mistake: he'd allowed a villain escape. The man, known as the Cat Hatter – a play on The Cat in the Hat and Alice in Wonderland at once – had asked Falsetto to become an apprentice.

Considering the Cat Hatter was one of the best thieves in the world, Falsetto had agreed quickly. He was, after all, a man who loved action, adventure and had high class tastes, which he wouldn't have the money to afford for some years. Unfortunately, he'd grown to regret the decision, not just after getting busted by his ex girlfriend and a man that had been his best friend, but years later by a teenaged superheroine.

He'd quit thievery not long before the Lorwardian invasion. He'd wanted to look his old friends up or hear from them again, hoping they'd have heard he was once again on the straight and narrow. But life has a way of interfering with the best laid plans; he'd become involved in the reconstruction, and pushing forward some of the very same technology that supervillains had once tried to destroy the world with, bringing a few of them to the fore as saviors of the reconstruction.

He'd made a tidy sum of money in merely three months. More than he'd ever made as one of the best thieves in the world, truth tell. It was draining, it was tiring but ultimately, it was extremely rewarding work. And still he'd hoped to hear from his old friends; now he knew why he hadn't, and guilt suffused his being. Because instead of being proactive, he'd waited, and had seriously contemplated taking an offer of ten million Euros to steal the tap the mayor of Munich would use to open Oktoberfest.

All because some part of him wanted to remember what it was like to be one of the best thieves in the world. He didn't know why someone would want a beer tap you could get at any beer store, but…

"Excuse me?" Falsetto said, having missed the last thing Helga had said to him.

"Oh, sorry," she blushed, "I was just saying that I hope you were just here for Oktoberfest…" She favored him with a concerned look, "I've heard rumors that someone wants to steal the opening tap, and I will not abide by that!"

Falsetto was taken aback by the firmness of her tone. Thinking quickly, he pulled her aside from the walkway into the lee of the building, speaking quietly, "I've heard rumors from old contacts that someone wants millions of Euros for it, but I can't understand why? I mean, it's just a tap, right?"

Helga stared at him, searching his face before her face crumpled slightly, tears shining in her eyes, "It's not just a regular tap, Falsetto… It's a special tap, made in memorial to Freidrich… It was made from a… Um, a plasma conduit, from a gun that was on the last Lorwardian walker Freidrich and tanks from the US and German armies stopped. The walker that's at the edge of the _Theresienwiese_…"

"I've seen it." Falsetto admitted, the sight of a huge alien walker plainly visible as his private jet had descended into Munich International Airport.

"That gun didn't kill Friedrich, but the damage his body suffered when he ripped it off… His armor was almost completely destroyed, he was using mostly his own strength and he… He pushed his body beyond what it should have been able to do… And when he tore it off, it gave an opening for the tanks to aim for. Whoever wants it probably wants the metal it's made of, since most governments confiscated that for themselv…"

"The strain killed him?" Falsetto asked, interrupting the rant Helga seemed ready to go on. She smiled her thanks and nodded as he put a hand on her shoulder, "And… The tap, it's in his honor?" Again she nodded, and inside he raged at whoever had set up the theft. Had he known, he'd have never considered it. He was just glad he had decided to case the area first before taking them up on the offer!

"Yes, and his… Sacrifice also brought his uncle back from supervillainy…" She said, tears again visible in her eyes.

Falsetto came to a conclusion, right then and there, "Well, Helga… If there's anything I can do, to offer you - or the Munich city government – assistance, my services are yours, free of charge! If they don't mind using a former thief of no small ability as an advisor…"

"Wha-…" the woman began, only to be cut off by Falsetto placing his free hand on her other shoulder.

"Helga… Even if I would have been tagged as a hire for this job, I would have told them to take a flying leap just 'cause I love Oktoberfest." He paused after his little lie, waiting for the beautiful woman to acknowledge it. She finally decided he was telling the truth and nodded, and he smiled, reaching up hesitantly to wipe away tears, "And besides, I love… Loved Freidrich like a brother. No way am I gonna risk something in his honor being stolen for some… Stupidity like this."

"Thank you, Falsie…" Helga said, using a nickname he hadn't heard in literally years. A name she had only used when she was involved with him, and only delivered with a certain look. One she happened to be giving him at that very moment!

"Helga…" he started, his blood cold by the look in Helga's beautiful brown eyes, "You've just lost Freidri-…"

"No," Helga said firmly, grabbing his hand in her powerful fingers and pressing the knuckles to her lips briefly, "I lost him, but… He would have wanted me to go on… And knowing you are _out_ of the opposite side of the business… He would be happy for me to pursue you. He loved you, too, and I… I still have feelings, Falsie… I do _not_ know if we can be more than friends, but… I would like to _try_."

"I… I'd like that, too…" Falsetto said in English again, smiling as Helga nodded in understanding, "I'd _love_ to!" _Ten million Euros? Not to break her heart again…_ He nodded towards the café, a hesitant, but slowly broadening smile on his face, "Breakfast?"

"I'd love to!" Helga answered in English herself, her accent giving her deep, feminine voice a sexy lilt that still sent a flutter through Falsetto's heart, even nine years after he'd last heard it.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"I still don't see why we're taking an airline to Germany for our vacation, Ron!" Kim fretted two weeks after their visit to La Isla Senior. She huffed slightly at Ron's lack of response, and stared around the expanse of the Denver International Airport. She held her arms in front of her, her left hand grasped tightly to her right forearm just below the elbow. _I should be helping him pay for it dammit!_

And that was the whole reason for her agitation. As if all the trouble she'd had during summer semester hadn't been enough, Ron was not only paying for their apartment and all the attendant bills, he'd _refused_ to let her help pay for the trip! Not that she had much money saved up, but she did have some! Combined with the prior couple months worth of stress, and some events from nine months earlier, she was more worried about it than she cared to admit. _I don't want anyone to think I'm taking advantage of him or taking him for granted, after all!_

She ground that last thought down under at firm mental heel. _No! I'm not going to let that whole mess affect me, especially since his mom finally came around!_ She huffed again and drew her left arm up, crossing both arms over her chest almost protectively before continuing her thoughts, _At least I'm taking the three semesters off mom suggested… And Ron and I _both _need the vacation._

The admission, even now, wasn't easy for her. Literally everyone she saw on a regular basis had told her since late July that she needed it, but she had convinced herself they were worrying too much. _Of course, that stupid jock and his stupid, nasty wandering hands reinforced Bonnie's suggestion of getting away from everything for _more_ than a couple days!_

She sighed faintly, feeling a strange wash of relaxation after admitting how badly she'd let things get to her, how badly she needed to just get away. She glanced around the airport again; it was quite beautiful, even here near the boarding area. And at least the crush of people didn't seem as bad as it would have at Hartsfield or O'Hare.

Still, she could do without that same crush of people, and she tried again to convince Ron, still waiting patiently for her to continue her thought, that they were better off with their own means of travel, "I mean, the Sloth could've had us in Europe withi-…"

"And the Tweebs, your dad _and_ Wade said that until they fix the problems with the jet and rocket engines the Sloth can't fly for more than an hour and a half for safety reasons, KP," her fiancé interrupted gently, "Besides, Wade didn't even have to call in a major favor for you to get the Sloth to Germany, because Mr. Edmunds brought something here to the states and was heading to Germany there to drop something else off!"

"I know, Ron, I know. I still wish my German was better…" Kim sighed, turning towards him, dropping her arms and holding them akimbo, "Sorry, Ronnie, but…"

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, KP!" Ron interrupted again, a huge grin on his face, "No buts! We're on vacation! We should enjoy it without having to worry about things. Besides, you remember what happened that first time we _really_ pushed the Sloth's flight mode, right?"

"Um, right …" Kim said in a drawn out tone, walking towards him as her memories of that night took precedence in her mind. With a raised eyebrow with a knowing smile on her face, she leaned against him lightly, a wicked gleam in her eyes, "You mean when we left the beach party the Seniors threw for Middleton High over in California?"

"Yes," Ron answered, worry showing slightly on his face as he glanced down at the red-head. He didn't mind that the growth spurt she'd had over the summer had eliminated most of the height difference they'd had by the end of senior year, but the sudden change of demeanor did. Screwing up his face slightly, he continued in a pondering tone, "You wanted to go back to Colorado to sit near the top of Pike's Peak, and we almost crashed when we got there!"

"We made it!" Kim answered in mock indignation, laying her hands on his chest. Although she was smiling, she put a pout into her tone as she leaned up to whisper into his ear, "Are you saying you minded either of the two things that happened when we realized we were safe?"

"Never!" Ron answered with a light blush, relieved to find that was all she planned to tease him with. He pulled back slightly, reaching up to grasp her hands in his.

"Never?" Kim asked, putting a mild version of her puppy dog pout on her face.

"No need to be mean, KP!" Then the blond protested, leaning forward to give her a quick peck on the lips, stopping the PDP in it's nascent stages. She smiled up at him, and he returned the smile, leaning his forehead against hers and running his thumb along the engagement ring he'd given her that night, "KP, you know better than that. But I almost _didn't_ get a chance to ask you to marry me, _you_ almost didn't get a chance to say _yes_, and _we_ almost _didn't_ get to do _that_ because the engines tried to conk out…"

"You have a point, Ron." Kim sighed, shaking her head, "So do the Tweebs and Wade. And _Dad_…"

"KP," Ron protested lightly, "Look, we both know that was all straightened out, alright? Bad timing on his part, on our part, the whole nine yards, right?"

"Yes, but it still pisses me off!" Kim groused, grimacing when Ron winced at the curse, mild as it was, "Sorry, Ronnie, but it does… I mean, I pulled the latisimus _and_ the trapezius on my left side, you were just giving me a massage!"

"And he was mad at Professor Ramesh and a bunch of the other guys at the space center." Ron added, holding a finger to her lips to stop any protests, "Ah-ah, I know, KP, he shouldn't have taken it out on us, but they didn't know we had a rough mission. And we got it fixed later, and he apologized the next morning, right?"

"I know, Ronnie, I'm sorry for dwelling on it, it's just…" Kim sighed, leaning into him, "I… I just have this… Weird feeling about this trip is all. With everything that's happened the last few months, I can't help but think something'll go _wrong_!"

"KP… It'll be alright, I promis-…" Ron started, but was interrupted as Kim gave him what she considered a proper kiss. It was literally breathtaking, and lasted for some time before Ron pulled her away slightly to catch a breath.

"KP!" he whispered in a near panic as he heard whispers and a couple of catcalls from nearby. A blush quickly spread across his face as Kim pulled him close again, snaking her arms around his back to rest her hands firmly on his derriere, "Public place? People watching? Our flight loading in ten?"

When Kim's hands began to wander and she landed a few short kisses on and about his lips, he managed put a hand over her mouth. He leaned in close, then whispered sharply with a teasing smile on his face, "Your Aunt Flow is going to be visiting for a few more days?"

Kim stopped her attempts to kiss him and stared at him levelly for a few long seconds. Ron's smile took on a frozen quality as Kim turned and stepped away a little bit, crossing her arms in a huff, her tone when she spoke petulant and a little hurt. "I know, Ronnie, but the waiting is killing me!"

"Um, KP…" Ron gulped nervously, "C'mon, you've said before it's not that the most important thing that we're physically together as long as we're toget-…"

"Not my point, Ronnie! Now I at least understand what all those shows about women trying to liven up their sex lives are all about!" Kim muttered in a dejected tone, "More than two and a half weeks… Hell, basically _three_! Three weeks, three _long_ missions since we left the Senior's island, two of which were solo for each of us! Then you went to Japan _every_ weekend since we stayed at the Seniors' place, and _every_ time we tried to get some alone time, _someone_ needed us or family wanted to hang out with us or something just as trivial! And you've been teasing me every day we've been together since…"

"KP, Joss and Felix had reasons for coming down to visit, and so did Team Go! And you haven't really complained about the teasing…" Kim's squeak and the blush crawling across her exposed shoulders told Ron he'd hit the mark. "And I understand that you're frustrated about other stuff, and worried, too, and that's why you're bringing all this out about this, right?"

Kim nodded grudgingly and grunted an assent. Ron chuckled lightly and continued after taking what he hoped was an unobtrusive breath, "Okay, but still, I'll make it up to you, KP," Ron assured her firmly, wrapping comforting arms around her waist, "I promise!"

Kim sighed theatrically and turned in his arms, returning his hug with a plaintive, teasing tone, "You'd better!"

"Hey, the Ron-Man never breaks a promise to the best girlfriend in the world!" he declared, leaning down to kiss Kim's nose, "And that's what this vacation's all about. We're going to some places you always wanted to go and actually _see_, not just pass through on a mission! And a couple more for the fun of it: first Germany, then France, then Amsterdam, Iceland, maybe London or Greece or even the Senior's island again, depends on if we get bored before the trip's over!"

"Hey, Ron?" Kim asked, nervousness in her tone as she thought about the places he listed and nuzzled her face into his chest, "Why Amsterdam? Or Iceland for that matter?" She honestly wasn't sure as to either suggestion, but it was a question that had bothered her for a couple days. Especially after remembering some of Bonnie's teasing comments over their weekend stay at La Isla Senior.

"Actually, Amsterdam was Rufus' suggestion…" Ron interrupted her train of thought, screwing his face up in confusion, "I know they have some awesome historical places there, but Rufus was really, really, _really_ excited about Amsterdam for some reason. And, well, I saw this show about Iceland and it apparently has a lot of cool clubs?"

"Oh…" Kim said, relaxing visibly. _That is _so_ Ron!_ she thought fondly, _I was worried he might be taking Bonnie's teasing to hear-…_ Her contemplation ground to a halt at the half formed thought, and a devious smile lit her eyes. _Maybe I should tease you back for the last damn near three weeks of hell I've gone through!_ She fought to keep her tone and face the same as they'd been the prior few moments as she queried her fiancé in a petulantly curious manner, "You sure Bonnie's talk about experimentation isn't why?"

"Huh?" Ron boggled at Kim's apparent non-sequitur as the red-head buried her face in his chest.

"Well," Kim drew out the word in a near sigh, "In Amsterdam pot's legal, and you're always on the 'Never be normal!' thing… And we're starting out in Germany during Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer party… I was wondering if you were trying to suggest some experimentation, too?"

"Wha-… Huh?" Ron protested in confusion, staring at the crown of Kim's head with wide eyes, "What're you asking, KP?

Kim stifled a laugh but a positively evil smirk was on her face, and she was thankful it was hidden from her fiancé by his own chest, "Well, I was taking university classes, and you're living with me away from home next to a university campus, and you know what they say about that, right? And Iceland's supposed to be full of beautiful women and men…"

"Um, KP?" Ron gulped. Kim heard matching humor in Ron's voice, but a note of seriousness as well. After a moment of silence from Ron, Kim looked up at him; she'd been expecting a lot, most likely a minor freakout. Not the almost sober sounding tone underlying his humor, nor the seriouness underlying the smiling eyes of his expression, "Honestly? I love you, with all my heart. If that's something you wanted to try, y'know, experimenting with… Well, whatever?"

As he let the words trail off, Kim stared at him in a mixture of shock, fear, no small amount of respect and above all, love. _What happened to my goofball? He's not supposed to go all serious on me without warning!_ She smiled hesitantly at him, her trepidation showing through despite her best efforts, "Ron? You know I was just kidding, right?"

"Were you?" Ron asked with a gentle, teasing smile and small laugh, "I wasn't sure…" Kim let out an indignant squawk and slapped the back of his shoulder in protest. The blond took a breath and looked up at the composite and cloth ceiling of the terminal, his tone almost wistfully self deprecating, "Serioulsy, though, KP… Senior year?"

"Yeah?" Kim asked nervously, knowing that it was still a touchy point of their relationship.

"Well, y'know, with how big an idiot I was because my dad was joking with me… Saying I wouldn't be allowed to date you if I spent too much money on you?" Kim nodded, biting her lip at Ron's almost sad smile, "Or that a woman really worth dating his son would put up with, well, a lot of stupid things… Immature things, I guess? Basically, some of the things I did for like, nearly six months? I was an idiot, and stupid and really, really ignorant, KP…"

Kim nodded, her eyes misting at hearing Ron describe himself that way; especially when, in her own opinion, it had been his dad's fault. He looked back down at her and wiped away the solitary tear that had escaped her eyes. His face was deadly serious as he continued, "I know I apologized for a lot of this a months before graduation, but I still think I screwed up, took you for granted. I'll never do that again, and… I trust you, KP. If something came up? If… If you wanted to try, I dunno, _something_? As long as you don't hide it, as long as you're _honest_ with me, I'l-mmph!"

Kim's mouth silenced his. She couldn't help it; his declarations of trust, his saying how much he loved her without saying it, had struck her speechless. So she spoke to him in the only way she could at that moment. The kiss wasn't powerfully passionate, nor was it gentle and soft. It was promising him that she loved him as much as he loved her, the kiss two lovers shared when nothing else had to be said.

"Ron, I…" she said after finally breaking the kiss. She found herself speechless again, staring at him, wanting to cry, to slap him, any number of reactions. He just stood there, waiting patiently, and she leaned in to give him another hug, resting her chin on his shoulder. "I was _teasing_ you, you _ass_!" she finally whispered into his ear.

She felt him stiffen, and realized she'd cursed again, this time without thinking about it. She sighed, somewhat annoyed with the response. She knew she shouldn't be; after all, she was far from a font of profanity, and had rarely felt the need or desire to. But, as she'd realized since leaving home, it was sometimes a release she needed. _I hope it doesn't become a habit, but I can't pull off that faux cussing like Tara does!_ she griped at herself, _But it shouldn't matter... I'm an adult, dammit!_ she paused in her thoughts, realizing how it sounded to use even such a mild curse in her own head, _Okay, I _guess_ if it's weird to hear myself doing it, it must be worse for Ronnie…_

She sighed, murmuring a contrite apology in his ear. "Sorry, I know it's awkweird to hear me cuss, but…"

"I know, KP, I know," he assured her with a chuckle, "Hormones and all, right? Well, that and I _was_ kinda mean, teasing you back like that…"

"Yes, you were!" Kim agreed, and Ron gave an apologetic squeeze at the implied rebuff in her voice.

"I was, but…" Kim pulled back at the same time he did so she could see his face as he continued, "_But_… I meant everything I said. I love you that much, KP…"

"I know, Ronnie…" Kim assured him, "I love you too, um… Do you honestly think I'd ever be abl-…"

"KP, life happens, right?" Ron's simple question stopped Kim's protest as effectively as a hand over her mouth, and Kim could only nod in reply, "I promise, I'm not trying to throw our relationship away or anything; I'm a doofus, but not even _I_ am _that_ stupid! But it's just… I love you, and I wanted you to know how much, 'kay?"

Kim bit her lower lip, nodding at him. "Ronnie… The same holds true for you, just… Same conditions you gave me, I promise… I kno-…"

A loud chime sounded from above them, stopping whatever else she'd have said. "Flight 143 for Chicago-O'Hare is now boarding…" the calm, feminine voice announced, and with Ron nodding in concerned understanding, Kim allowed the interruption to stand.

_Time enough for that on the drive from Hannover to Munich!_ she thought, then gave Ron a quick, intense kiss before grabbing her carry on.

"Let's get going, Ronnie!" she chirped, wiping her eyes and sniffling a little bit. Ron smiled, nodding as he grabbed his own carry on before they both turned and walked towards the gate…

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Ron eyed Kim nervously as she glanced back and forth from the road to surf through the playlists on the Sloth's entertainment system. The reason for his nervousness was the fact that, according to Kim, they'd be in an unlimited speed section of the A7 _Bundesautobahn_ in about ten kilometers.

He knew that, technically, they were already on one, but there was road construction limiting their speed. Something both teens were familiar with thanks to living in Colorado, where the joke, 'There's two seasons in Colorado: construction and winter!' was commonplace. And while Ron was like any teenager, in the sense that he didn't mind going fast in a car, Kim's definition of fast was nerve wracking, to say the least.

Being that they were on the world famous Autobahn, a bastion of incredibly well designed roads with long stretches of excessive speed, he was worried. Not that Kim was a bad driver, but he had a distinct fear that Kim's own need for speed would lead to what Mr. Barkin would have called "Shenanigans with a capital Shenanigans!"

_At least we're in the sloth!_ Ron mused. He knew from discussions with Kim that trucks, busses, and vehicles towing trailers were still speed limited even in the fastest zones. _But… That _definitely_ means we'll be unlimited to our speed on the no limits parts…_ He wanted to curse his mind for adding that tidbit in. The added trepidation for the blond teen started to spiral up, when he remembered a rescue mission a week after the invasion: they'd hit a speed of 202 MPH on a stretch of I-25, _without_ using the rockets!

_Okay,_ he admitted, _I actually thought it was more than badical when I stopped panicking, but…_

He glanced over, wincing since Kim was surfing through her 'Awesome Punk' folder. _Yup, I'm going to get an ulcer if I don't at least _say_ something!_ he worried, finally forcing himself to speak up, swallowing nervously against a dry throat, "Um, KP? Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, we've only been off the plane for about an hour and all…"

"No big, Ronnie!" Kim chirped, scaring the blond even more, "I got sleep on the way over, remember?" She glanced over at him, a bright, happy smile on her face, "Besides, I know you like singing along to some of these songs, and you like speed if you're not having a freak out …"

"I know, KP," Ron answered, his face screwing up in a grimace of worry, "But, y'know… You've been stressed, and if something comes up, I don't want you getting all road-rage or something."

"So not the drama, Ron!" Kim countered with a brief roll of her eyes, glancing from the road and bringing up a folder that Ron was familiar with. She glanced back at the roadway, and seeing that she was safe to do so, back at Ron and gave him a mild version of her puppy-dog pout, "Pweese, Wonnie? You can even make the whole playlist from your 'Ron's Road Music' folder!"

"Gah, KP, no fair!" Ron cried, then his eyes bugged out as Kim started to turn the intensity of her PDP up a notch, "Okay, promise not to turn that up any more and okay…" Ron relented with a laugh, hoping his nervousness would abate with the music; after all, while they shared mostly the same tastes, he only had four or five really uptempo songs in his folder. _Maybe when we hit some of the slower punk and ska stuff that Tara and Alex had introduced to us, or the Oh Boyz tunes if I can slip 'em in…_

"How 'bout it?" Kim asked, interrupting his train of thought.

"Okay," Ron nodded at her request, before favoring Kim with his best serious face. "But, KP… If you start feeling tired or something…"

"I'll to pull over and stretch or let you take over or something if I need to, Ronnie," Kim answered with a rather contrite tone, "Promise."

Ron smiled at her, reaching over to give her right shoulder a squeeze. She returned his gesture, reaching up with her right hand and squeezing his before returning her hand to the wheel. "Well… I see you got all of my music in different folders now, um… You want me to just use punk and rock, or any music?" he asked, a tinge of excitement peeking through his trepidation.

"It's _your folder_, Ron!" Kim laughed, winking at him, "Just make the first few songs_ fast_, the construction's ending soon!"

"Okay!" Ron enthused. Looking at the growing excitement on his fiancée's face, Ron was forced to admit that punk and rock - and knowing KP's recent tastes in music, mostly punk - would be the best bet to keep that in place. With that in mind, he set to work, giving several seconds of hard thought before finally making his choices, queuing the songs up into a sizeable playlist.

Kim reached over and turned the volume knob, a recent addition that Wade had protested as an anachronism, to nearly max volume, and glanced over at Rufus, "Plugs in, Rufus!"

Rufus, who had been close to dosing, perked up. "Okies!" he cried, rummaging around under the seat of the newest addition to the Sloth, the 'RufPod' as dubbed by Ron, Wade and the Tweebs. It was a small, detachable, half-circular pod that sat near the back of the Sloth's center console. The most visible thing about it was a pop up screen that could relay navigation information, movies or even a front or rear view of the road from the entertainment system. It also contained a small storage area for anything Rufus wanted to bring that would fit there, a mini-cup holder for Rufus sized drinks and a comfortable couch like seat with restraints designed with a naked mole rat in mind.

After a moment he jumped up, holding his ear plugs high, "Fo'nd 'em!" He immediately put the plugs in, and settled back on the couch, strapping himself in. The plugs weren't there because he disliked the music. Far from it in fact, it was merely that none of Team Possible were interested in their clothing challenged partner losing his hearing, since human ears could take far more of a pounding than his sensitive organs. "Hnk, g'd t'go!"

They passed the end of the construction, and the cars filed from the two lanes they'd been in into all three lanes. Ron unpaused the music, and Kim let out an excited, wordless exclamation as the music started playing. Within seconds of the song starting, and Kim was yelling along to the music, nodding her head in time to the fast, driving beat.

"She's got a ticket and she's waitin' at the station… C'mon, Ron, I know you like this song!" Kim's words drug Ron into the singing by the third verse, and despite finding the subject matter of the song a bit of a downer, he couldn't help but smirk in agreement; the song was awesome! Especially seeing Kim's brilliant smile and bright eyes, an expression he hadn't seen on her face for weeks. "Her problems will arise, as sure the sun will shine, yeah! She's gotta get used to life livin' on the lam!"

Soon enough, the faster cars were up at speeds well over one hundred and fifty kilometers per hour. A few, like the Sloth and a modified, burnt orange Porsche 911 were occasionally topping two hundred ninety kilometers per hour, and averaging around two hundred fifty.

Ron dozed off and on for most of the trip, only really waking when the speeds slowed for a city, such as when they passed through Wurzburg and switched to the A3 and through Nürnberg and switched to the A9. Kim woke him a couple times for something she found particularly interesting or noteworthy, like a man putting fuel into his car, while an _Autobahnpolizei_ officer wrote out a ticket for the occurrence.

Normally, Ron would have been slightly annoyed with it, but seeing the frank, honest excitement in his love's eyes he couldn't help but share her enthusiasm. Ron was just getting ready to go back to sleep when Kim yawned, "Tired, KP?"

"Getting a little bit," she said, "How long 'til Munich? I know we're close…"

Ron understood why she was asking him. The traffic wasn't particularly heavy, but it was a steady flow, and so he checked the GPS for her. "About… Thirty kilometers, KP."

"Good!" Kim said, glancing off the right shoulder as a flash of water from a small river caught her eyes. She quickly discarded the idea of scenery watching, considering her mildly tired state and the one hundred and sixty-three kilometers per hour she was traveling.

She canceled the cruise control and glanced in the rearview mirrors. Seeing a few vehicles approaching rapidly, one of them a familiar, burnt orange Porsche, she pulled into the middle lane to clear the lane. She was panning her gaze across to the road when something caught her eyes. Ahead of them sixty or seventy meters was a pristinely kept, six wheel Mercedes semi-tractor pulling a heavy duty, six wheeled flatbed trailer.

The lumpy tarp tied over the cargo indicated it was probably some heavy industrial equipment, but that wasn't what drew her concentration. There was something… Off about the vehicle. Off enough that she devoted a few seconds to figuring out just what it was.

Then she caught it: the front outside tire of the tractor's tandem drive wheels looked… Off. Almost unnoticeably deflated, and wobbling ever so slightly in a vertical fashion. Having lived in an area of Colorado with high cargo traffic, she had seen similar wobbles before, and the results of a semi-truck's tire blowing out. She'd even watched a car get a flat running over pieces of a semi's tire after it had blown or thrown its tread block, and knew from her advanced driving courses how dangerous they could be just lying on the road.

And in a sudden flash of insight, she knew that this tread block was in the process of tearing free. And to make matters worse, it was doing so on a high speed, high volume roadway. In that instant, she knew she would have trouble sleeping that night; sparing the briefest of glances at her fiancé, she barked, "Ron! Go limp!" Then Kim Possible's world slowed to a crawl.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Ferdinand Hartmann was a happy man. A former strongman and a freelance trucker by trade, some would say that he was _inordinately_ happy with life, despite his work taking him away from his family for upwards of two weeks at a time. And while it wasn't necessary for him to drive over the road for the extra money his job brought in, he loved doing it. He loved it so much that, during school breaks, he would sometimes take his elder daughter and his son on the road with him, and when she had time off, his wife and their youngest as well.

The mini vacations, as his wife called them, helped the family feel closer. And he was, indeed, close to his wife and children. They'd had time for a couple over the summer, since most people had spent time and money on the Lorwardian invasion recovery. The last few weeks, though, had been busy for his wife. She was, after all, the head nurse for one of Europe's most prestigious cosmetic surgeons, and lately had worked from the moment she dropped their kids off at school to the time she picked them up from her sister's home near the school, sometimes as late as 7PM.

And that's why he was particularly happy today. He had some gifts he'd picked up along the route back to Munich, including a lovely piece of lingerie he knew his wife would love. And while many men would be embarrassed with their wife being the family breadwinner, Ferdinand was not. If he were honest, he didn't need to work at all, but loved being able to buy his family, not just his wife and kids, but the rest of the extended families on both sides, gifts.

He smiled at the thought, and wondered how his family or his in-laws would react to the fact that half the two hundred thirty thousand Euros he would earn this year after operating costs was purely spending money. The other half went straight into a college and trust fund for the children.

He was in a very good place in life, no doubt about it. His truck was one he'd wanted since it'd come out in 1995, and had purchased his only a couple years earlier. Fully paid off, his huge Mercedes, a top of the line Actros Executive model, was mostly stock. He had sprung for an aftermarket stereo and a video entertainment system in the sleeper area for the mini-vacations, and that was all he'd needed. He made sure his truck was kept immaculately clean inside and out.

He always drove safely, never going faster than the normal flow of truck traffic. He glanced down out of habit and chuckled at the positively sedate ninety kilometers per hour he was traveling. The safety included keeping his truck in tip-top shape, of course. He purchased only the best quality lubrication products, and purchased biodiesel when it was available. He also made sure to buy only the best tires for the truck, something his family did not begrudge him for.

Even so, sometimes, errors happen. For example, the left outer tire on the forward of the tandem axels had left the factory after passing all of its tests. Somehow, the tests had missed the smallest of problems: a pinhole void between the tread block and the body of the tire.

The week had been a busy one for Ferdinand; he'd crossed Germany five times since the prior Sunday, from Munich in the south all the way up to Bremerhaven. He was dropping off cargo for transshipping via the North Sea and taking cargo back to Munich each time. All of his loads had been within his vehicle's load limit, but heavier than the tire, so minutely damaged, could take.

Had the tire been on a short haul truck, or had the loads been lighter, the tire would likely have lasted through its full useful life. But it was on a heavy load long haul truck, and thus, the tire's small pinhole, over the last several hundred kilometers had suddenly spread into a small channel across half the tire's width, and that damage had cause a hair's width split in the softer, inner rubber of the tire down into the air chamber.

Over the last one hundred and fifty kilometers, the tire had slightly deflated; not enough to alert even an experienced driver like Ferdinand of the problem, but enough to cause more heat to build up, spreading the channel further. It had finally separated a patch of the tread block across the width of the tire, and for perhaps ten centimeters in front and behind the original site of the pinhole. All it would take was the slightest bump in the wrong spot, and the tread would fly loose from the wheel.

Then the very inside edge front right wheel drove over a pebble about two centimeters across. The pebble flew up, bounced off of the left framerail, back to the exhaust, and then backwards, right under the outside front tire of the tandem axel where it had weakened…

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Kim felt more than saw Ron realize what was happening, catching his body relax out of the corner of her eye. She watched a big BMW 760Li sedan pulling past the semi at a relatively sedate one hundred and thirty kilometers per hour. She saw in the periphery of her vision as one of the cars that were behind them, a Ford Escort with a huge wing on the back, among other obvious performance modifications, pass her at just over two hundred kilometers per hour.

Kim could tell that, due to her driving position and the car's position relative to the semi, the driver of the big BMW couldn't have seen the tire as it tore itself apart. She couldn't have seen the tread block tear loose and fly towards her sedan.

But by the woman's startled jump, Kim knew she could _feel_ it as the tread flew into the right front tire, the ragged, torn ends of the tread chewing into the sidewall and sticking. She could feel it when the nearly two and a half meters of steel reinforced rubber was drawn in and around the front control arm and steering linkages. And she could feel it when her huge sedan lurched.

Kim wanted to cry out in horror, but instead her mouth set to a thin line, and knew what she had to do. With that conclusion in mind, she felt her body moving almost of its own accord. She didn't fight it; as she had learned so long ago with the McHenry laser grid, and later fighting Shego: absorb information, come to a decision or let your instincts decide the best course of action, and let your body do the work, and if you do, you should be safe.

She was just thankful that, unlike most people, she didn't seem to suffer from tunnel vision or dampened hearing, but quite the reverse. And, again unlike most people, her mind was not only able to cope with the increased information, but seemed to relish in it.

Thus, she didn't have to move her eyes from the roadway as her right hand flashed like a snake's head. It unerringly stabbed at the hazard button and was back to the steering wheel faster than most would be able to blink. Her left foot stabbed viciously into the brakes. Her right foot hovered over the accelerator, ready when needed, while she kept in mind the positions of other vehicles about her.

The BMW slammed into the front tandem axle's wheel, despite having one of the most effective stability control systems in the world. The combination of speed, extra grip from the wheel's rim digging into concrete, and the greater mass of the semi caused the BMW to slew hard to the left.

Somehow, the BMW didn't flip as it slid forward across two lanes of traffic at such a speed, and managed somehow to slow almost sixty kilometers per hour in an dreadfully short timeframe. Kim, still rapidly approaching despite the Sloth's amazing brakes, angled her car towards the small gap between the BMW's trunk and the semi's left side.

Kim barely caught sight of the Ford out of the corner of her eye, the car's huge performance brakes glowing as the driver almost literally stood on the pedal. It wouldn't be enough, and the driver jerked his wheel hard to the right, sliding much like the BMW, but with the reverse orientation.

She saw another flash as the burnt orange Porsche angled leftwards, looking to squeeze between the BMW's nose and the inner median fence. The driver was visibly working his vehicle's controls with a practiced hand as the Porsche _accelerated_ towards the rapidly closing gap.

Her view of the Porsche was cut off as the Sloth slid into the gap Kim had angled for. She felt the Sloth bouncing and trying to skid over pieces of rubber from the tread block and sidewall of the semi's tire. Her feet began dancing a complex rhythm between the brake and gas pedals, her hands turning the wheel fractions of a degree with the deftest of touches. Astonishingly she kept the Sloth straight as it flew between truck and the huge sedan with less than five centimeters to spare.

She caught the Porsche out of the corner of her eye again, apparently intact, and felt a surge of relief. It was short lived, wiped away by the sickening crunch of the Ford striking the BMW. The sound made her skin crawl, and she winced, hoping no one would have died from the impact. Then she was past the semi and turned the Sloth over towards the emergency lane, watching in her rear view as the horror behind her unfolded.

It seemed almost as if the BMW was trying to climb over the guardrail; up and up its nose flew, before the forces of air and gravity finally caught up to it. It came back down with a resounding, screeching crash on its roof, then began flipping back across the middle and outside lanes of traffic. It missed the semi's flatbed trailer by centimeters, finally coming down hard on its driver's side, sliding to a stop half in the emergency lane, half in the right hand driving lane.

The Ford, amazingly, stayed on its wheels, spinning several times to rest a few feet from the BMW. Kim and the Porsche's driver were still on their brakes, the effort to slow down enough that both vehicles' tires chirped in protest, the anti-lock brakes fighting to keep the wheels from locking up.

They thought it was all over when another driver in a SUV, not having paid enough attention to what was going on in front of them, pulled from the right hand driving lane into the middle lane. It clipped the rear right bumper of an older Opel sedan, almost sending the grey vehicle into a spin of its own.

The sedan's driver, despite being in his late seventies, was quite good, and quick to react. He counter steered perfectly, his feet solidly on the brakes to try and bring the small car to a stop. Even so, his vehicle wasn't quite up to the task of stopping in time; the Opel struck the Ford just behind the right rear wheel at perhaps fifty kilometers per hour, and both vehicles were thrown against the outer guardrail.

The Ford was given just enough impetus to strike the BMW, which teetered ever so slightly before falling back towards its wheels, resting awkwardly against the guardrail with three of its wheels off of the ground.

It had all happened in less time than it took at take two deep breaths. Kim checked behind her, wincing as the huge Mercedes semi hit its engine brakes. The staccato burping was almost deafening as it passed the Sloth and the Porsche, before pulling into the emergency lane itself. She immediately grabbed her Bluetooth headset from the sun visor and activated it, connecting it to her wrist Kimmunicator.

"Ron, grab your Mark Four and the medical kit from the trunk!" she ordered as she grabbed her newest full size Kimmunicator from the center console in front of the RufPod. It was dubbed by Wade as the Mark Four, and while it was still a smartphone, it had heavily upgraded scanning equipment, as well as a Global Justice style Taser and emergency a defibrillator built in.

She jumped out, slamming her door as she sprinted back towards the carnage over fifty meters behind her.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

**Author's Notes**

I know, I know, it's been a while, but I got Chapter 3 out! And sorry the fic's starting out so slow, but there's a good deal of buildup needed for this particular story. ^_^;;

And finally, some action! Which will continue in the next chapter. Sorry, but I felt it best to cut it there, otherwise the chapter would be well over fifteen thousand words.

But at least we get to see some other potential players in this drama. And we get to see that, well, Ron's not a complete doofus, as he was portrayed in season four. And… Why would Kim be worried that someone would think she's taking advantage of Ron? And of course, there's Ron trying to panic before some high speed fun, Kim calming him down about it, and then, a potentially horrible accident…

Anyway, as always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for story beta and some suggestions. I hope you enjoyed, and remember, there's a lot of good fics out there, so keep up the reading, writing, and reviewing!


	4. Chapter 4

"Got it, KP!" Ron hollered back. He picked up Rufus as the naked mole rat grabbed the keys, placing his buddy on his shoulder before diving for the trunk. Rufus held the trunk key on the keyfob as Ron was running, and the blond opened the trunk when it popped open, grabbing one of the four duffel bags in the back. Then he spun and dashed off after Kim.

Kim raced to the recently righted BMW, bounding over the hood and sliding to a stop by the driver's door. She reached inside the shattered driver's window and turned the ignition off, carefully sniffing the air and trying to detect the smell of gasoline over the odor of antifreeze and other hot vehicular fluids.

The driver, a woman in her early thirties, stared around in shocked disbelief as Kim activated her wrist Kimmunicator, "Wade!" she said in a tight, controlled voice as the pudgy tech wonder appeared on screen, " No time to talk, bad wreck! I need your computer backup for several medical scans from my Mark Four, and probably Ron's too, ASAP! I also need to be put in contact with the hospital or hospitals that'll be sending emergency vehicles, English speaker if possible, please and thank you!"

While Kim held the Mark Four in front of her and angled towards the driver, she glanced around the vehicle to see if any other occupants were inside. Sure enough, in the back seat was an infant carrier bearing a baby of perhaps fifteen months and a boy that was probably seven years old in a booster seat. Both seemed none the worse for wear, the boy staring around in a profound state incomprehension.

The infant was another matter entirely. As soon as she realized the carnage was over, her mouth opened in a heart wrenching wail of panic. "Meine Kinder!" the woman cried, her baby's cry of fear cutting through the fog that had fallen over her during the accident.

"Your babi-… Uh, Ihre, ehm… Ihre Kinder… Eh, sind gut!" Kim stuttered, her worried mind barely able to translate her English to German clearly. "Spriechst Sie Englisch?" The woman shook her head and Kim sighed, glancing around. She saw Ron coming up on her position, the man that had been driving the Porsche only a couple steps behind him and carrying a medical bag with a red cross on a white field.

She let out a breath of relief. She would have to ask him how later, but somehow her blond fiancé had become as fluent in German as he seemed to be in English. And she _needed_his skill in that area now! "Ron, translate and check on the kids!"

"Er, right, KP!" Ron called with a touch of nervousness as he stepped up behind her. The tone in her voice suggested he'd be interrogated later, but he had more important things to worry about when he saw how panicked the driver was.

Allowing a light groan of resignation, he spoke to the woman in German with as calming a voice as he could, "Don't worry ma'am, this is Kim Possible and I'm Ron Stoppable of Team Possible! Your kids seem alright, and we'll help you out!"

The woman stared for a moment, and relaxed perceptibly at this. "Danke Gott…" she whispered, glancing upwards as Ron scrambled over the hood of the big sedan and entered the passenger side front window, careful not to cut himself on the shattered glass.

The driver of the Porsche came to a halt between Team Possible and the passenger side of the Ford, and paused briefly to address them with barely accented English, "I am _Oberleutnant_ Edward Schermer, I am a combat medic in the German Army, do you two have need of assistance here?"

"No, we have it but thanks!" Ron called as he moved to reach over the rear seat, "The Ford hit the Beemer pretty hard, though…"

"Thank you!" _Oberleutnant_ Schermer said, moving to the green sports hatchback. "Miss Possible, I may need your scanner in a moment!" he called back as he beheld the injuries the two on the driver's side of the Ford had taken.

"I'll get mine to you in a second!" Ron called out as Kim concentrated on her Kimmunicator's readings. Ron reached down and activated the switch to lean the passenger seatback backwards a bit, then reached back to unbuckle the belts to the infant carrier and the boy's booster seat.

"Don't worry, kids, I've got you…" he called in German, then sang a wordless, silly sounding tune to the little one, her crying subsiding at the silly sounds of the strange, big eared blond in front of her.

"Are you really Ronald Stoppable?" the seven year old asked, his terrified expression falling into one of awe as he stared at the blond teen lifting his sister, carrier and all, carefully into the front seat. It was a difficult operation, but Ron managed it with surprising aplomb. The Mark Four beeped and Kim immediately turned the device on the infant, scanning her for injuries.

"Yes, I am, and that's Kim Possible, like I said!" he smiled at the boy, "Are you hurt?" When the boy shook his head no, Ron nodded, "I need you to be strong for your mom and sister, little dude! You're going to have to stay there for a minute until we're sure it's safe to get you out of the car, but you might have to stay here for emergency services, okay? Just be very careful not to jostle your mom or anything..."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Stoppable!" the boy called out, all but saluting to him, and Ron smiled brightly at him. "KP, the kids seem…" he began in English, but Kim held up a hand and nodded before pointing towards the army medic with a tight smile of relief, as the scan completed on the infant.

She immediately went to the back and began to scan the boy, almost dropping the device as Wade's worried face popped up on the wrist Kimmunicator's screen at the same moment, "I've got someone from the hospital dispatch, Kim! Her name is Tilly…"

Wade dropped from the screen and a voiceprint graph replaced him, a professionally worried sounding woman began speaking in moderately accented English, "Miss Possible, we have your location and Mr. Load's report of an accident, and another call on an emergency phone. What exactly is the situation?"

"Severe accident, one roll over, three vehicles involved in a collision, several injured. The woman I'm checking on is an early thirties Caucasian female, several lacerations to her face and arms from glass, no broken bones, four bruised ribs and contusions to her face from her airbag. One infant, female, age…" Kim glanced at the woman, who answered about both of her children, "Age thirteen months and two weeks, one child, male, age seven, both Caucasian, neither injured."

"Thank you," the dispatcher said, relaying the report in rapid fire German to the emergency crews, "Tell them to stay inside until emergency crews arrive." Kim complied and jumped up to check on the Ford as Tilly continued, "Any word on other injuries from the other vehicles?"

Kim glanced up as the truck driver came towards the scene worry and anguish written on his face, and she called out to him in hesitantly in English, hoping he understood her, "Are you injured?"

"No, I am fine!" the man called back in heavily accented English, "I have emergency first aid supplies if they will be needed!" He held up a rather large first aid kit and Kim nodded, turning back to the Kimmunicator.

"The driver of the semi truck involved says he's fine, Tilly," Kim turned back to _Oberleutnant_ Schermer, "How's everyone here?" Kim asked, glancing between Ron and the medic.

"Not good. If I may, I can speak directly in German to the emergency assistance and hospital, Miss Possible." the medic offered, and Kim slipped the Kimmunicator off of her wrist, pressing an on screen button to keep her in the loop, but allow someone else to use the device without a headset. The man removed his purple nitrile gloves before grabbing the device, and spoke in rapid fire German to the dispatcher.

Kim shuddered internally as she remotely connected her Mark Four to Ron's to see the injuries the driver had suffered. She tried to keep a calm, reassuring façade in place, even as she felt horror over the severity of the man's injuries. _Compound oblique humerus fracture, ulna and radius both have hairline fractures, five broken ribs, two small lung punctures, a comminuted clavicle fracture and he's still _awake_!_

The story was similar but not as life threatening for the left rear passenger. She had a broken humerus, but it hadn't compounded, and her clavicle was damaged, but not broken. She had two incomplete fractures to three ribs, but the other four injured ribs were merely bruised, and fortunately, no other internal injuries.

The other passengers got off with severe cases of whiplash and bruises from their seatbelts, but they were more worried about their injured friends than themselves. Kim looked at the man in the front seat as he gave her a hard stare, startling Kim with his heavy Irish accent when he spoke, "Go an' check on th' other car, I c'n hold out 'til em'rgency serv'ces get 'ere!"

"If you're sure?" All of the occupants nodded and Kim turned to the _Oberleutnant_, "Let's go!"

The man nodded and they both raced towards the Opel. Kim felt a brief surge of relief at seeing Ron introducing himself in German to the elderly man in the driver's seat. The man seemed shaken, but a nod from Ron as he scanned the gentleman showed he was otherwise none the worse for wear.

"Herr Stoppable… Meine…" the elderly man who had been driving the silver Opel sedan said worriedly, glancing between Ron and his wife, "Meine Frau fällt in Ohnmacht. Es... Es atmen nicht!"

Kim blinked in a brief panic as her mind translated the words, _My… What is… Wait, 'My wife… Fainted? She does not breathe...' Oh, God…_ The red-head went pale and was jumping across the hood before finishing her thought.

"KP!" Ron called as she stopped at the elderly woman's side, checking her pulse even as Ron scanned her. Kim found no pulse, and looked at Ron, "No back or neck injuries, but her heart beat's all crazy!"

Kim nodded and hurriedly unbuckled the woman from her belt and began to drag her out of the car as gently as she could. "Tilly," Kim called out as the Ron scrambled around the back and the _Oberleutnant_ followed Kim's path over the hood.

She studied Ron's Mark Four as he held it up for her and tried to find a pulse. She reached up to tap the 'No' button on the screen, then continued speaking when it concluded the woman's likely condition, "Elderly woman, possibly late seventies or early eighties, she's suffering cardiac arrest, probable pulseless ventricular tachycardia!"

The _Oberleutnant _waited until she had finished, then helped remove the woman from the car. "Do you know CPR?" he asked tightly, beating Tilly to the same question.

"Fully certified, passed my recertification test two weeks ago," Kim replied with a jerky nod, "The scanner I'm using has a built in defibrillator, too!"

"You defib and compress, I'll breathe!" he suggested, craning the woman's neck gently and checking to see if her airway was restricted. Finding no restrictions, he removed a CPR mask with a bag from his medical kit.

Kim stared at the elder woman for a long moment as the _Oberleutnant_ finished his breathing preparations. _She… She looks so much like Nana..._She blinked, then nodded in thanks as Ron held gloves out towards her, "Thanks, Ron!" she said, handing the device back to him and slipping the gloves on, "Put your Mark Four into continuous scan mode, please and thank you!"

Ron complied, holding the device so that it could both scan and Kim could watch it. She frowned as the readings continued to scroll on: almost no breathing and what little breathing showed was brief and extremely shallow. While she had a pulse, it was completely ineffective at pumping blood; the best sign that she was even alive was that of solid brain activity despite being completely unconscious.

Kim almost dropped her Kimmunicator when the woman drew a sharp, agonized series of gasps, then fell back into the weak breaths of a moment before. "Um, some agonal breathing, Tilly…" Kim added, almost as an afterthought. She checked the defibrillator function of the device, attaching the probes before barking, "Clear!"

The woman's body jerked as the device shocked her chest, but there was no sign of heart activity afterwards. "Ron, hold this so I can see if heart stabilizes or if the brain activity decreases, and press the red button in the middle of the screen when I yell clear!"

"Gotcha, Kim!" Ron agreed, taking the device.

"Kim," Wade called over the wrist Kimmunicator, "The emergency vehicles are about eight kilometers out!"

"Thank you, Wade!" Kim replied as she lifted the woman's shirt to get at her chest. She followed the curve of the rib, found the xyphoid process, and moved up to the appropriate place for her hands. "Starting compressions…" she nodded at the _Oberleutnant_, and he stopped squeezing the bag. Immediately, Kim began sharp, perfectly modulated strokes to the woman's chest, moving a precise two inches by body rocking forward just so.

"Breathe!" she snapped after thirty-five compressions. The _Oberleutnant_ squeezed the bag twice, and Kim began compressing again. She worked through thirty-five more compressions in twenty seconds and two more breaths from the _Oberleutnant_. Then she started the process over again for another entire minute of compressions - one hundred and five of them - and more artificial breathing by the _Oberleutnant_.

"Clear!" she called out, and activated the defibrillator again. Again, the woman's body jerked, and still her pulse showed fast, yet ineffective beats. But it had slowed somewhat, "Compressing."

By the end of the next two minutes, she was feeling the pressure of other's eyes on her, and the stress of the woman's heart still largely unresponsive to their efforts. Desperate tears shined brightly in her eyes, and she blinked, fighting to hold them back, "Clear!" she called out again, and again, the woman's body jerked.

There was an almost physical sensation from many of the people around her holding their breaths as she restarted the compressions. When she paused for the Oberleutnant to breathe, she could actually hear them inhaling and exhaling. Somehow, the whole sound was sympathetic yet hopeful.

No matter how much sympathy and hope they had, it didn't help. All those people being there were pressing on Kim's soul. Normally, she wouldn't have had such a crowd with rescue work. She also knew that, under normal circumstances, there wouldn't be many people rubbernecking at a crash on the Autobahn.

Unfortunately, all the glass and pieces of tire and metal had punctured several tires. She wasn't completely sure, but she could have sworn she'd heard a few cell phone cameras snap pictures or start taking video, and there was a foreigner to Germany that had taken out an actual video camera and was filming the whole thing. After all, it wasn't every day a world saving teen and her boyfriend were on hand at the scene of a regular accident.

"Clear!" she called again, shaking off her fears and frustration at the people surrounding her. The woman's body convulsed, and for a few brief, buoyant seconds, there was a stabilizing of her pulse… And then it stopped altogether. Kim felt her heart plummet, and she felt a tear slide down her cheek as the elderly woman's heart once again began beating at an incredibly sycophantic fashion. "C'mon…" she muttered, nodding to the _Oberleutnant_ again.

After two quick breaths from his device, she began pumping again. Each movement accompanied by a desperate, dread filled grunt, almost, but not quite sounding out the same word.

She stopped at the compressions and the _Oberleutnant_ squeezed the bag once again, the stress getting to him as well. Kim hazarded a glance at the brain activity monitor and saw it still strong, still active, but she knew if she didn't succeed soon…

She blinked as more anxious tears followed the first few, and this time, with each grunt, she spoke in an absent manner, as if in hope the words would help draw the woman out of her near lifeless state, "C'mon… C'mon… C'mon… C'mon…"

Over and over she said the one word, her voice sounding ever so slightly more desperate with each compression, until it was again time to shock the woman. "Please…" She begged into the ether, as she reached over to the Kimmunicator, "C'mon, please… Clear!"

Nothing. Kim felt despair welling up, almost forcing her to stop, but she couldn't. Not because she was a heroine, not because she was having videos taken of her possibly failing. No, it was because during the last set of compressions, she'd heard this woman's husband saying a prayer, thanking God for their time together, thanking God for giving them a full life, and asking God to take her home if it was her time.

It was because she'd never forgive herself for not trying until there was no more to give, because she could _not_fail this man, this stranger. But it was so hard…

"KP, the paramedics are here…" Ron said, his voice as strained, as worried, but… Solid… And it reminded her almost as if she'd been slapped what she had to do.

She blinked, heedless of the tears, and as the _Oberleutnant_ finished his squeezing, she leaned forward, her arms once again positioned just so, "Any for her yet?" she whispered the question, and glanced between Ron and the _Oberleutnant_.

"They're getting equipment out…" Ron said, glancing back, "But yeah, they'll be here any second!"

"I'll keep going 'til they're here…" She didn't realize she's spoken. Didn't even realize she'd fallen back into her mantra, begging, and then challenging the woman to come back. With each precise compression, her voice changed in pitch and timbre, until finally, her words had devolved back into desperate grunting.

"Back up, Miss Possible…" the _Oberleutnant_ said gently as she finished her string of compressions, and Kim glanced around. The EMT crew was there, and she backed up to let the first man take over for her. The second man quickly grabbed her arm and inserted a large gauge cannula with an attached catheter, then hooked a drip bag on a meter tall tripod before attaching an IV line to the catheter.

He spoke into a boom microphone connected to a headset, and nodded, quickly inserting an already prepared needle into the IV line's injection port and plunging the drug into the line. He spoke again, and then moved to take over the _Oberleutnant's_ place at the breathing mask. The EMTs spoke in rapid fire German that Kim had no hope of following, only catching a few words as they went to work.

The third man of the team set up a large, complex looking device, and Kim recognized it immediately as one of Wade and Dr. Lipsky's first devices for sale. A 'PLL, LLC. Model 1 EMT Scanner/Defibrillator'; it was essentially an upscaled Mark Four Kimmunicator, with improved scanning, computing power and internal medical library. And, better yet, instead of a combination Taser and defibrillator of the Mark Four, it was loaded with a more powerful, dedicated defibrillator.

There was a beep, and Ron immediately recognized what it was. With a tight grin, he tapped an on screen prompt and fed information from his Mark Four to the EMT S/D, and the man running it unhooked the Mark Four's wires from the defibrillator's pads and placed the larger device's on them. "Freier Raum!" the man yelled, and pressed a button. Immediately, the woman's heart came to a pause, and for several seconds, went back to a normal rhythm, before once again spiraling towards its former, ineffectively rapid pace.

The EMT that was leaning over the woman began compressions, and Kim felt herself falling weakly to her rear against the guardrail. Ron was there immediately, an arm snaking around her as Kim continued to stare at the woman. "Is she…" Kim began, but stopped, her vision unfocused through the tears welling up in her eyes again.

"Shhh, shhh, KP, she's _still _in good hands…" Ron said, an understanding smile on his face at her fear.

"Indeed, Miss Possible…" the _Oberleutnant_ confirmed as he squatted down next to them, "These men and women are good at their job, and one of them said your work could very well make the difference if they can calm her heart…"

"But…" Kim started, staring at him as if he couldn't be telling the truth, "Only if…"

"He's right, KP, that's _exactly_ what they said…" Ron confirmed resolutely, squeezing her shoulder, "The one giving compressions? He was amazed when I told him how long you'd been doing it and how precise your movements and depth still were. And with their larger defirib… Defribri…"

"Defibrillator!" Kim bit out harshly, immediately wincing at her tone. The _Oberleutnant_ chuckled softly despite the strain, reaching out to grasp her shoulder in understanding, even as Ron squeezed her firmly once again.

"Yeah!" he agreed, "With their larger defib thingy they'll probably be able to get her back to normal just fine!"

"Ron…" Kim said in a strained voice. She appreciated what he was trying to do, but…

"I know, KP…" he sighed, "Sorry, I'm worried too, I'm just… I don't deal with things normally, y'know?"

"I know, Ron…" Kim sighed as well, half burying her face in his chest as she watched other things that were happening, "I know…"

The cars on the Autobahn moved along slowly, passing through the single lane left open by the wreck and emergency vehicles. Some people stared at the carnage and the crew working on the elderly woman as they passed, others stared purposefully ahead, not wishing to see the injured. A few passengers snapped pictures or took videos with cell phones, and she almost hid her face in Ron's chest fully.

Instead she turned further; the burly truck driver was over at the Ford. He had donned heavy leather gloves and was helping a rather muscular rescue crewman pull the front door bodily away from the frame.

At the rear driver's door another emergency crewman used a Jaws of Life spreader to separate the door from the vehicle, the squeal of metal setting her teeth on edge. There was a pair of EMTs standing by with a backboard and gurney for the driver, and another pair with another backboard and gurney for the driver's rear passenger.

There was another crew over by the big BMW. The driver's door was open and they were removing the woman. As Kim looked on, the boy scrambled up to help the men with his baby sister, and then followed them out, asking something of his mother.

She glanced at the EMT and asked something. The short, wizened older man nodded, escorting the young boy back towards them. When he was close, he bit his lip nervously before speaking up. "Herr Stoppable, Frau Possible?" the boy said, and Ron answered for them.

"Ja?" Ron asked leadingly, earning a small, extremely fragile smile from Kim.

"Mein name is Michael… Er, _my_ name is Michael Hauptmann," he said with intense solemnity, his English even more heavily accented than the trucker's had been, but still understandable, "Ich… Er, _I_ would like… Um, to thank you for helping with meine... _My_ sister and mutter. _Mother_! I am sorry, my Englis-..."

"No thanks necessary, Michael." Kim assured him, "It's what we do. And thank you for speaking English, it's very good!" Kim continued as strongly as she could, almost breaking down at the beaming smile the young man gave her, "You'd better go back and be with your mother and sister … They'll need you, you know."

"Ja, Frau Possible!" Michael said sharply, smiling, and holding his hand out to shake first Kim's, and then bashfully, Ron's hands in turn, "Thank you again!"

"Take care of them, Michael!" Ron called after the young man.

"Ron, she…" Kim choked as she glanced back at the elderly woman, "She looks so much like Nana… I…" she swallowed, words failing her and Ron hugged her tightly, tears of his own in his eyes as she shuddered against him with repressed sobs.

Kim reached up and hugged his arm, then her heart froze; the EMT that had been compressing her chest had sat back with a huge sigh, and… _No! Oh, no, no, no, n-…_

"Danke! Mein Gott, danke!" the elderly woman's husband cried, and Kim realized that the sigh wasn't one of defeat, but relief.

The old man put his hands gently on the shoulder of the EMT who had been giving the compressions, beginning to thank him again, even as people clapped and started to cheer. The man shook his head sharply, and gently took the older man's in his, saying something Kim couldn't hear and glancing her way. Then the man's relieved, tear filled eyes zeroed on her, and he walked shakily over to where Kim, Ron and the _Oberleutnant_ sat.

"Can we help you, sir?" Kim asked in a unexpectedly small sounding voice, almost fearful of what the man would say.

"Ms. Possible, Mr. Stoppable…" he said in mildly accented English, "_Oberleutnant_ Schermer, I believe you'd said to Mr. Stoppable earlier?" At the man's nod, he bowed his head at them, holding his hands out to them. Kim and Ron took his left hand, and the _Oberleutnant_took his right, and he squeezed their hands with surprising strength.

"If there's anything I can do, for any of you, please don't hesitate to ask!" He reached into his jacket pocket and produced two business cards, handing one to Kim and one to the _Oberleutnant_.

"Wow…" Ron began, staring at Kim, and the _Oberleutnant_ smiled at his own card.

"Mr. Hausmann…" _Oberleutnant_ Schermer said in shock, "I… Had no idea that…"

"Expecting me to drive a Mercedes or BMW, perhaps?" Mr. Hausmann chuckled, an honest and open, if strained sounding expression. His reaction earned a puzzled, raised eyebrow from Kim, but understanding responses from Ron and the _Oberleutnant_.

"Not really," Ron smiled, "Martin Smarty drives a little Ford Focus when he's visiting his stores. Aren't you working on helping Triple-S put a resort on La Isla Senior, among a lot of rebuilding and stuff?"

"That's correct," Mr. Hausmann confirmed, "And have been working with several cities in the US with reconstruction, as well as providing low cost housing for people at my hotels since the invasion." Kim felt a brief flash of annoyance at the business minded tone, especially considering what had just happened.

Then the timbre of his voice pierced her annoyance, and she realized the tone that had annoyed her was that of a man trying to get back on firm footing after his life had almost been ripped out from beneath him. Kim glanced at the Oberleutnant and Ron, seeing similar conclusions in there eyes and relaxed. She could understand wanting to have something approaching normalcy perfectly, especially after a possibly life shattering event. She'd gone through similar emotional shifts herself after the Li'l Diablo incident, and the horrible, nightmare wracked guilt after the events that had toppled the robots control tower…

"Oh, wow…" Kim commented to try and shake the memories off. She felt flustered both at how easily her mind had dwelled on what she considered her greatest moment of weakness as well as not recognizing the name, "_That_ Hausmann…"

_Yeah, only one of the most respected men in the world, especially post invasion, after all!_ Fritz Hausmann was a - and in some circles _the_ - German business magnate. A businessman extraordinaire, with concerns in construction equipment, mining, alternative energy and most notably his first business venture, hotel and hospitality services. The man had been number seven in the list of richest men in the world before the invasion. After the invasion? There was a good chance only Señor Senior, Sr. and Martin Smarty were richer.

"Yes, and if there's _anything_ I can do to help _any _of you, as thanks for saving for saving my Helen's life…" he stared firmly at Kim as she opened her mouth in automatic reflex, "I know your reputation, Ms. Possible, and that your standard response is, I believe, 'No big!'?"

"Yeah, normally…" Kim nodded, the blush rapidly spreading across her face drawing a genial smile from the elderly man, "And please, call me Kim…" she glanced at Ron, who nodded at her with a big, relieved smile on his face, "And him Ron."

"_Oberleutnant_, _Oberleutnant_ Schermer, or Edward is fine with me." the young medical officer said with an almost nervous smile.

"Of course, if you call me Fritz." He gave them a smile that wouldn't have been out of place on a junior high school boy sharing a dirty joke, especially with the gobsmacked expressions on Edward and Kim's face. At the same time, he seemed pleased that Ron accepted it with no outward sign of surprise, "But, as I was saying, your CPR saved my wife's life… While we're old, and prepared to accept Death when he finally comes, your actions will allow me at least a little more time with my beloved… I cannot possibly repay you for it, but I feel I must try."

"Wha-…" Kim started, the _Oberleutnant_ and Ron opening their mouths to protest as well, but the business magnate held up a hand, interrupting them with gentle firmness.

"Kim, Ron, Edward…" he intoned seriously, "At the very least, let me promise you that, if you're anywhere in the world that has a hotel of mine, and it has a spare room and you're in need of one? You have it, on the Haus, if you don't mind indulging an old man in a bit of grandiosity."

The three stared at him, forced to chuckle at his self deprecating, friendly tone. Even so, Kim wanted to protest, but realized that, in all honesty, his offer was reasonable, all things considered. She nodded, as did Edward, and Ron just smiled his goofy smile, hugging her to him.

Then the magnate spoke again, "And if there's any other help I can offer… You have my card. I insist, even if it's just a grant or loan to help starting a business, or anything similar… I'll make sure it's part and parcel of the company, and known to… The right people, if something should ever happen to me before you call upon me."

"I… Guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?" Edward joked, earning a hearty laugh from Fritz, and a fragile chuckle from Kim.

Ron just continued smiling, shaking his head with a smile as he spoke, "Thank you, Fritz… I know KP doesn't like being rewarded for doing what she'd do anyway, but it means a lot to both of us that you'd offer."

"Of course, of course…" Fritz nodded, then sighed, "I do believe I will be driven to the hospital my Helen is at after the _Autobahnpolizei_ take statements, so, I will bid you farewell."

"Well…" Kim started, only to stop when three _Autobahnpolizei_ stepped over to them. "Ron, could you explain…"

"No problemo, KP!" Ron said, and stood, pulling her up with him. He launched into German as the officers approached, "Hello, we're Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable of Team Possible. I'll have to act as a translator for Kim, she's not as fluent in German as I am."

Kim watched with fascination as all three officers seemed to flinch as Ron identified himself. There was a brief discussion between the two men and one woman, the woman seeming to have won the debate. One of the men whipped a clipboard off of his belt with a piece of paper already clipped in place, a pen at the ready.

The other man took the Oberleutnant aside and produced a clipboard of his own, and they began speaking in a rapid fire, very professional sounding dissertation of the events. The woman, an attractive brunette with wide set, deep brown eyes, a very German nose and broad, pouty lips, smiled as she addressed Ron in German, "Hello, Mr. Stoppable, it is an immense honor to speak to you. So, in your and Miss Possible's words, what happened?"

"Well…" Ron began, turning to speak to Kim, and translate for her. They explained the wreck, and what had happened afterwards as best they could, the woman taking notes and mostly nodding, though she occasionally stopped them to ask for clarification.

Kim found herself watching the woman interviewing them out of the corner of her eyes while she seemed to direct her attention at Ron. She was feeling quite irked, at least at first. _She'd better stop hitting on my fiancé!_

She was about to speak up, to distract the woman, when she caught that Ron was doing just that. Always the master of distraction for Team Possible, Ron was now using those skills; little gestures, quirks of the eyes and specific inflections in his speech to throw her off. She even caught him looking at her worriedly out of the corner of his eye, before turning back to the officer; he seemed to relax when his friendly manner and seeming obliviousness finally took her attention from him to the accident scene.

Kim wanted to both laugh and hit Ron at the same time as she realized something she should have years ago: the same things he was doing _now_ were the things he had done when Tara had been interested in him! _Mr. Stoppable, we will have a long conversation about this…_ she promised him silently, her internal laugh turning into a concerned little flare of jealousy, _As well as why you feel the need for experience at keeping other women from flirting with you!_

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"I can't believe this!" Kim growled, her face red with rage, "Who do they think they are, claiming I called and canceled our reservations?"

"I know, KP, but things happen, right?" Ron tried to calm her, placing a placating hand on her shoulder, "Besides, they refunded the mone-…"

"Ron…" He gulped as Kim turned that same fiery glare upon him, and he did the only think he could think of: he kept quiet and let her vent. "We never made that call, we confirmed with the hotel that it was impossible for us to have made that call, and…"

Kim's anger suddenly fled, frustrated tears sliding down her face as her expression crumpled into one of near despair. "Shhh…" Ron whispered, quickly enfolding her into a hug, "It'll be handled, KP, you know that…"

"I should've called when we landed instead of being so _stupid_…" Kim ignored him, her voice almost breaking with the vicious, self-directed admonishment. She leaned into him, shaking her head angrily, "I _knew_ I should've made sur-…"

"KP!" Ron said in a firmer tone, pushing her back far enough to look into her eyes, letting her see the pain in his eyes as she admonished herself, "Neither of us are experienced in vacations, and we didn't expect a problem, or that some jerk would impersonate you to get our reservations cancelled. Wade said he'd look into it, and we still have options!"

"Like what?" Kim snapped lightly, her tone sharp, but the confused knitting of her brows took some of the sting from her words.

Ron smiled softly, knowing she would be speaking sharply at him again in a moment, but willing to accept it, especially if it helped calm her down in the long run. "Just get in the Sloth, relax and I'll drive, okay? I've already made arrangements while you and Wade were dealing with the problems."

Kim looked skeptical for a moment, but shrugged, "If you're sure, I just hope it's as good as this place looked, Ronnie…"

Instead of speaking, he merely smiled and drove literally halfway around the block to the north. As they got close, he saw Kim start in a mix of recognition, annoyance, and fortunately in Ron's opinion, relaxation. "Hausmann Suites? Ron…"

"I did good, didn't I?" Ron asked in a seemingly worried tone. Kim glanced at him and raised an eyebrow at his huge grin, one on his face despite his tone, and rolled her eyes, looking back at the building. It was a newly completed structure, a multi-story, gray and white stone, steel and glass hotel.

They'd seen the back side of the building, and looking at the building as they drove towards it, it seemed to be shaped vaguely like a capital 'A', with the tip pointed towards the street. The floors seemed to climb the further away from the street they were, except for the 'crossbar' of the 'A' shape, which was where the tallest parts of the structure were. The crossbar was also inordinately thick, indicating that this was where the largest suites were likely located.

The main building was about five stories, higher end rooms obviously residing in the ten stories of the legs and the fifteen stories of the crossbar section. The architecture was a bit avant-garde in comparison to some of the surroundings, but the stone, glass and steel structure managed to blend in surprisingly well.

Kim looked at him, and the goofy grin he knew was plastered on his face with a neutral expression. With a sighed laugh, she smiled and shook her head fondly at him, "I could call you a jerk for doin' this so soon after that wreck, but…" She glanced around the entrance to the hotel, admitting it was tasteful almost in spite of the overt opulence.

"Well, Mr. Hausmann did ask for us to stop by the hospital and visit him tomorrow morning as payback, but…" Ron shrugged and Kim nodded in agreement.

"It's the least we could do…" she muttered as she stared at the entrance. The lobby was fronted by a four story glass window that appeared to be a single pane of glass or, more likely, acrylic. There appeared to be three levels within the lobby.

The first level was filled with comfortable chairs, several HDTV flatscreens with different channels on each, as well as a multi screen display of arrivals and departures at the Munich area airports. The second level seemed to have a few shops for knickknacks and a tobacco shop, as well as directions to the pool and workout gyms. The third had a mezzanine of some sort, with directions to a few conference rooms, as well as a small eatery that held a dominating view of the lobby.

The front had, despite the almost industrial design, a warm, inviting feel to it. The sidewalks were a dark marble set off with light grey granite accents. The bellhops and valet attendants were dressed in expensive suits that managed not to be overbearing. Two of the bellhops almost literally jumped towards the rear of the vehicle as they came to a stop, waiting at the rear of the Sloth as Kim glanced back at Ron once again.

"I actually called Fritz directly, KP," Ron said with a grin in his voice, "That's how I know he wants us to visit him and his wife - she's doin' great, by the way - and told him about our trouble. Turns out he owns the hotel we were going to stay at, too, and he said to go ahead and come over to this place and he'd have it set up for us. He also said he'd have his people look into things."

"Mrs. Hausmann's already awake?" Kim asked, receiving an enthusiastic nod from Ron as he handed her the keys. A huge smile broke out through the neutral expression she'd been wearing, "Okay, Ron, you did awesome! This place looks slammin'!"

"Yup!" Ron and Rufus both agreed. They got out and Ron began speaking to the bellhop manager as Kim went around back to begin unloading.

Ron glanced back after speaking to the manager, holding off laughter when Kim was stopped after opening the trunk with the keyfob. One of the teens that were at the trunk raised a hand respectfully when she went for the luggage, his tone sincere, "We have this, Miss Possible; just tell us what you want up in your room!" The young man spoke in clear English, and the blond chuckled at his fiancée's relieved sigh.

"Thank you very much," she said, before turning back to Ron as he walked up to her, "They have it, apparently?"

"Yup, the room's already set up, we just have to sign in at the front desk!" Ron all but crowed, "And the manager here says she has a driver that's used to high power cars, and he'll park the Sloth."

"Spankin'!" Kim enthused, seeming to be taken in by the hotel. She threw her arms around one of Ron's and they went inside to arrange their stay.

The sign-in was efficient and painless, and Ron was informed of several particulars. He glanced at Kim when the desk clerk brought something to his attention, and he wavered for a moment. Kim was about to ask him what was wrong, when he smiled and shrugged, apparently deciding everything was fine.

After they signed their names, the bellhop led them to a bank of elevators in the middle, crossbar section of the hotel, earning Ron a raised eyebrow from Kim. She was distracted by a small flatscreen displaying the upcoming Oktoberfest festivities, and then by the lobby and further out Munich at night as the glass enclosed elevator went up to their floor. When they arrived, Kim glanced up and raised an eyebrow. "Um, fourteenth floor?" Kim asked as the elevator stopped, her mouth screwing up in worry.

"Yes, ma'am," the bellhop intoned, "The basic rooms and suites are on the first through fifth floors, 'Executive' suites are on the sixth through tenth floors, the 'Executive Plus' suites are on the eleventh and twelfth floors, and the 'Princess', 'Presidential' and 'Starlet' suites are on the thirteenth and fourteenth floors, three per floor. The only suite we had free was the fourteenth floor's 'Princess', hopefully this is acceptable?"

"Oh," Kim blinked, shaking her head to clear away the fog of tiredness, "I guess, since that's what we had arranged, Ron?"

Ron apparently didn't miss her tone's slight directedness, and he smiled nervously, "Yup, that's what the clerk said, only room available."

"Well, I guess that's that, isn't it?" Kim sighed, giving the bellhop a resigned smile before glancing down the three branching hallways, "Which way?"

The bellhop smiled in return and led them down the hallway to their left, which took them to the southeast facing side of the floor. "The fifteenth floor contains our restaurant, _Das Himmelsicht_, as well as a few observation areas. Your balconies are protected from view by those on the other balconies, and the balconies in your suite have a very open view of the _Theresienwiese_. Like all of our hotel's rooms, this one is very comfortable, but it has the advantages of size, complementary free internet access as well as free access to the _Klubhaus_ room, where we have light breakfast, lunch and desserts, all complementary."

"Slammin'!" Kim enthused, the teenaged bellhop's simple assurance about the room's comfort seeming to calm her worries somewhat.

"They even have a lot of green technology, like lights that turn down or off, at the guest's choice, when there's no movement in a room for a while! It's badical, and it has even more info in the brochure," Ron said as he slid his keycard and opened the door, waiting for Kim to glare at the fine print German on the brochure, "English on the back KP."

Kim eyed Ron with a half lidded glare, the blond's eyes dancing with laughter, "Not _funny_, Ronnie…"

"Not at all!" Ron agreed with a teasing smirk, his eyes dancing with even more amusement as they walked into the room. Immediately, the lights came up, as Ron had commented on, and the bellhop dropped their luggage into the foyer of the suite. Glancing around the suite, the two teens of Team Possible let out small whistles.

At one hundred and thirty square meters, the suite was as large as their duplex back home. The den area of the suite was a larger than their home, but it made sense considering that there was no kitchen in the suite, giving more room for the den, foyer and bathroom of the suite. The den had a flat screen HD TV that Ron guessed at fifty-six or sixty inches, and an impressive looking sound system.

Even so, the room was dominated by huge windows that looked out over eastern and southern Munich, with the commanding view of the _Theresienwiese_as the bellhop had promised. Ron was about to ask about the window, but relaxed when he noticed switches for the shades.

The bathroom, visible off to their right, was positively huge compared to their home's bathroom, and contained a nicely sized tub and a sizable walk in shower. The remainder of the room was taken up by a dining table, with eight chairs around it. Glancing around again, Ron almost got a feeling of vertigo as he realized the ceiling was high enough that the Middleton High School cheersquad could have pulled off a four high pyramid.

Then there were the bedrooms; while they were a little smaller than their single bedroom back home, the two rooms took up a little bit more space, since there was no need for a washer and dryer room. Each bedroom of the suite was filled with a king size bed, as well as dressers and another flat screen HD TV set in each, as well as a small office desk and chair. The wall of each room was again dominated by windows, these covered with their shades unlike the den.

"Thank you very much, my good man!" Ron laughed, pulling out his wallet and giving the man a several Euro tip, "Have a good night!"

"Danke, Herr Stoppable!" the man said with a shocked expression, not realizing he'd slipped from his excellent English into his native German.

"No problemo, dude!" Ron said, slapping the man genially on the shoulder. The teen bowed to the blond, then left, closing the door softly behind him. The blond walked up behind his fiancée and wrapped her in a hug, resting his chin on her shoulder and reading the brochure with her, "What's up, KP?"

"This used to be a Sheraton hotel, but it was destroyed during the invasion…" she said with a subdued tone, "Apparently, Mr. Hau-… Er, Fritz, Francisco, Professor Dem… Gah, _Hanz DeMenz_!" she elbowed Ron lightly in the gut after the blond chuckled, pouting that she still had trouble getting use to the name changes from what she was used to, "Anyway, they and 'interested third parties' got together a couple weeks after the invasion to do a proof of concept using publicly available 'former' mad scientist and Lorwardian technology to rebuild it. It took just two weeks from design to the grand opening!"

"Wow," Ron gaped, "I'm… I got nothin', that's beyond badical…" He smiled as Kim nodded, then gently kissed Kim's neck at the angle of the jaw. When she leaned her head aside slightly to give him better access to her neck, he smirked and nibbled gently at the spot, before planting one rather wet sounding kiss in the spot and stepping away from her, "So, you wanna shower first, or me, or are we showering toget-…"

"Ronald Stoppable!" Kim interrupted when she realized he was no longer kissing her neck. She turned on him with her hands held in fists, holding her arms akimbo, "You'd better have a good explanation for stopping!"

"Um, well…" Ron announced innocently, "You seemed to be relaxing a bit too much, as in, you might've fallen asleep on your feet if I kept up…"

"And that would be a bad thing, how, Mr. Stoppable?" Kim asked as she advanced on him.

"Well," Ron thought for a moment, "I have to say that while it's not necessarily a bad thing, you did mention wanting a shower before bed…" She nodded at him to continue, and he smiled softly at her, closing the gap between them and placing his arms around her neck, resting his forehead against hers, "And I figured it'd help you unwind, and then I could give you a nice, long backrub for doin' so awesome at the accident today…"

"But you did a ferociously awesome job, too, Ronnie…" the red-head pouted, and Ron laughed in agreement, "So did _Oberleutnant_ Schermer… If you guys hadn't been there…"

"But you did the best, KP…" he kissed her nose, then her lips, then her forehead, before resting his forehead against hers again, "You were amazing as always… And I was so relieved when you didn't freak out over the Escort! I know you and blood don't get along too well..."

Kim closed her eyes and moved to hide her face in the crook of Ron's neck, "That was… Oh, God, Ronnie, that was so hard… To stay calm… And then Mrs. Hausmann…" She began to shake with repressed emotion.

"KP…" he whispered as he gently kissed the crown of her head, "C'mon, everyone's gonna be alright, right?"

"I-I don't know…" Kim stuttered, "I… I almost failed, Ronnie… I…"

"But you _didn't_!" Ron's tone was firm with conviction, startling tear stained jade eyes to look up at him, "You saved her, and you helped other people! And even... Even if you hadn't, that kinda stuff happens! I remember, early on in hero work, your mom sat with us and told us about how sometimes, even as good as she is, sometimes patients don't make it, remember?"

"Y-yeah?" Kim agreed hesitantly, her eyes clouded with worry and tears.

"She also said that, sometime, it might happen to us, with a rescue or something. But it didn't this time, you did what you do, what _we_ do, and it all worked out! So please… If you have to cry, KP, to get it out of your system, then do it, but… Don't…" Ron's eyes began to water as he stared into Kim's, "Don't blame yourself for being you… For doin' your best, alright?"

Kim was startled into silence by his words. She wanted to reject his words, he could see that in her eyes, but she didn't. She merely mutely nodded, and leaned back and again buried her face in the crook of his neck. Her body hitched a couple times as a few stray sobs escaped her lips, and a few silent tears escaped her eyes, but she finally calmed down. "Ronnie… I… I don't know… I'll try, but… After everything, this summer, and… I… I'll try to be strong, but…"

"I'll be here for you, KP…" Ron assured her, giving her a brief, tight squeeze, "You won't be alone, I'll be here if you need more strength, or whatever else... I promise…"

"I love you, Ron…" Kim whispered, her voice still foggy with tears, but Ron could feel her lips quirking into a smile against his chest, almost as if against her own will.

"Love you too, KP…" Ron promised, "Always…"

**Author's Notes**

And finally, some action! And a li'l scene at the end between our heroes. And… What? What happened with their original reservations? Who would do something like that to Ron and Kim? And poor Kim, is she really over her worries about the accident?

I know, but I'm not telling…! Erm, yeah, anyway… ^_^;; I hope things weren't overwrought or annoyingly heavy in detail, lol. Do let me know what you think, I like to know if I'm hitting the right balance between everything. ^_^

As always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for checking on major grammar screw ups, and for keeping things on a relatively even keel within the story. Don't forget, there's a lot of fics out there, so keep reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Forward**

I'm posting this in this chapter 'cause I honestly forgot to put this in the Author's Forward in chapter 1 before, and, well, a lot of people that've already read chapter 1 might just skip to here. ^_^;;

This fic is the result of a short fic/long cookie I posted on the KP Slash Haven. It was in response to a challenge forum thread entitled "Songs, Fics" where a song and lyrics to said song are posted, and the writers are challenged to write a short form fic from that. It was stated after my short that people would be interested in reading more in that universe, and so now, here's the events that led up to that short fic. ^_^

And for a quick note, I put Kim and Shego as the 'pairing' in the chapter summary section for a reason. If you have read - or go to the site and read - the ficlet, you'll understand why. For those that are members there, you'll know the answer to the following question: does it mean that Kim and Ron will break up during the course of the story? To answer those that are not members there, and have no wish to be members… I won't say outright because that'll be a huge spoiler, but I will hint that just 'cause Kim's engaged to Ron does not mean that KiGo flavor won't be part of this fic.

A quick shoutout to a couple of reviewers:

ShadowCub, as I said in my review response, I hope ya stick with it.

Pesterfield, as always, thanks for the review and after the fact beta, and I hope you're enjoying it! ^_^;;

Pavelius, I'm glad I'm presenting an acceptable view of a KPverse Germany; as an American relying on dated information (from a college girlfriend I had that was a German exchange student…) and what research I've been able to do on the Internet, I'm doin' the best I can…

Okay, I may be doin' review replies in either an Author's Forward or in the Author's Notes, what does everyone reading think?

Well, anyway, on with the fic!

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

The green tea hued woman pursed her lips in thought as she looked up and down the street again. Reaching up to activate the earbud headset she was wearing, she spoke in calm, fluent German, "Yeah, this would be one of the best spots."

She rolled her eyes at the nearly instant response, grinding her teeth at his nasally, condescending, tone, "Yes, I know this is one of the most heavily watched areas, that's the beauty of the spot!"

"Look," she finally grunted in annoyance, "I don't _care_ what you people _think_ the likely point of attack should be… Well, I _am_ the most experienced person of this particular profession on the job…" Shego growled over the headset, long since having concluded that the man was a bureaucratic idiot looking to justify his rather large salary in connection to the job, "Yes, I consulted with him earlier! What? Doy, yes he agrees with me… I don't know, are you a goddamn idiot?"

_It's always the stuffiest that respond the best to mild cursing…_ she smirked at his spluttered attempt at a response, _German's pretty fun to cuss in, though Russian's a bit more… Visceral. And creative, too!_ She listened to the idiot on the other end a bit more, turning to lean against the false wall at the roof's edge. She was about to interrupt his hyperbole, but had to bite off a sharp laugh as another member of the team interrupted and came down on her side.

_Ah, it's nice to work with someone that has a clue…_ she sighed, leaning back against the false wall at the top of her current vantage point, _Fannie McBoob is_definitely_someone I don't mind working with. Too bad she's spoken for, she's almost as good as Princess…_ She blinked at that last thought, shaking her head and forcing her mind back on her situation with an annoyed shake of her head. _Definitely better than the idiot, since it's idiots like him that made me quit being a_superhero_! For Christ's sake, am I a living, breathing Catch-22?_

After a moment of fuming, she turned back and surveyed the section of the parade route she'd chosen. This section of the _Schwanthalerstraße_ was, in her not so inexperienced opinion, the best spot. There were buildings aplenty to hide within, around, atop or behind, there were several side streets for getaway cars to wait, and the close proximity to several hotels meant a big crowd along this section of the parade route. There was also relatively easy access to several U-Bahn and tram stations as well as bus stops.

It was also within line of sight of the Theresienwiese, and there were several relatively modern, multi story buildings in close proximity to the spot - such as the one she was standing atop - to give good surveillance of the route. Overall, the best spot to swoop down and snatch a beer tap, even one as heavily guarded as the Oktoberfest Memorial Opening Tap in Memory of the Clockwork Knight.

_What a mouthful, and it's even worse in German!_ Part of her wanted to snort derisively. She didn't, however, remembering just how damn tough the Lorwardian walkers were. After all, the man had had taken out five of them by himself, then a further twenty-three with the help of four tank squads, and that he'd apparently loved Oktoberfest as much as she did. _Yeah, I can see why they'd dedicate the opening tap to him! It's just a pity that someone was willing to pay ten million Euros to get it. Speaking of which, it's time to get down to business!_

Satisfied with the preparations she and her team had made, she dropped down the side of the building and found a convenient shadow to don regular clothing. _No need to overdo it now, is there?_ she concluded with a smirk, contemplating the quickest way back to the Mandarin Oriental hotel, where she was staying at someone else's expense. _I_ could _use a shower, and with that I'll look just like any other tourist! After all, the best thief can hide in plain sight!_

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Flashes of memory replayed themselves across the young man's mind. Most were buried in the incoherence of dreams, but a few stuck out.

"_I mean, how would_ you _feel if Gene asked_ you _to dress and act like his twelve year old cousin at a place like Chez Chouteau? On a date that's_ supposed _to be romantic? Huh?"_

Painful words, in these memories. Words that still struck a chord, the young man knew, not only with him but the love of his life.

"_Or maybe you two get off on that? How 'bout it? Does your husband make you dress like a twelve year old for a romantic date? Do you two get off on it or some shit?"_

That had been the first time he'd _ever_ heard her curse. He'd been stunned, but not nearly as much as his mother and father. More incoherence, then one of the two major reasons for the blow up he was reliving in his dream.

"_Why did you yell at him about it? Why didn't you just ask him what he meant instead of blowing up?"_

"_Because I_ did _ask him about it, dammit! When I asked him if I could stop with it, and he told me it was all a joke, I asked him why he hadn't said it was earlier! Did you hear what he told me, Mom? He tried to tell me 'This is my way of telling you!' I almost had to lose the best thing that's ever happened to me to ask him why, and it turns out it was a joke! And that was all he could say to me about it? I think I deserved a_ little _anger about it!"_

_"And it's all back to her! Ever since you started dating her, you'v-…"_

_"Improved my grades? Tried to eat better? Worked out more, tried harder at cheer practice, and then football? Tried to be a better person?"_

All things his mother had mentioned in passing, or hinted at, but had never said to him directly. All things that he'd done because of his love for a woman. A woman he'd thought was perfect until the events leading up to the argument. How foolish he'd been; no one was perfect, and they'd already had that argument before Thanksgiving. The day of the blow up, ironically; he was still thankful for her, and had come to love her even more after admitting that she did have flaws, imperfections…

They made her more real, more… More like the woman he'd wanted to love, not the woman he'd found himself in love with. Less an ideal that can be loved academically, but was above everyone and everything, she had become the _real_ person behind the persona. A person that could hurt, and could _be_ hurt in return… A person that _could_ need him, that _did_ need him… And that he needed in turn.

More confused jumble, and then the point of his mother's entire anger at him, at his fiancé, at their relationship… And his mother breaking down with her face buried in her hands, begging them both for understanding and forgiveness…

"_I'm just… I'm scared… I thought I was raising a good boy, that I was raising him_ properly_! Now… Now I feel like a failure! I just… I just don't… Don't want to lose my only son…"_

"_You haven't lost me, dammit! Yeah, so I'm a bit weird, so I'm not normal, so I was almost willing to let KP go if it was the_ best _thing for_ her_! She's important enough that I'd do anything, Mom… I'd even let her go, or… Or… I'd do anything she asked, or wanted, to make her happy! Isn't that what a man's supposed to do? Yes, I know, a man's_ supposed _to stand up for himself, and I_ have_! But at the same time, a man's_ supposed _to know when he's in the_ wrong _and act accordingly. It was a hard lesson, Mom, but it's one I've learned, too… If… If_ that _makes me a bad boy, or not the good boy you wanted…"_

More incoherence… These kinds of dreams were frustrating to the young man, and baffled him almost as much as Master Sensei's Words of Wisdom and Confusion! What, was it just a normal dream? Well, as normal as he had, anyway? Or was it trying to tell him something? Oh, more coherent thoughts, maybe…

"_Your mother's worried, Son… Worried that you're more like me than she can handle… I almost lost my whole family for her, and… I can see that you inherited my stubborn streak…"_

"_What?"_

"_What do you mean, Mr. Stoppable?"_

"_Kimberly… Ronald… My family thought Estelle was… Was going to lead me astray. They were far more observant than I ever was, and… They blamed her. They thought I'd live an improper life with her. You know as well as I do that, while we've made mistakes, we've never, once, truly been improper. And… I don't want, for myself or for Estelle, to make the same mistakes her family almost did._

"_I… Mr. Stoppable, I…"_

"_Kimberly… I believe, I_ know_, that you love Ronald. That you wouldn't take him away, but… It's difficult for us, especially now. I can only ask that you can forgive us this weakness, and we can be close to you as we always have, but… You say you can do anything, so all I ask… All I_ beg _of you is this: don't abuse my son's willingness to do anything for you… Be honest with him, always, and he'll never lie to you… That's all I ask, never lie to him, and… Try to work with him, in life, okay?"_

"_If you'd have asked me this earlier today, I'd have told you to eff off… Not because I'd take advantage of him like that, but because I already feel that way with him, especially after he told me about what you said… But, because it seems you're sincere, and he's forgiven you… I promise…"_

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Ron woke with a start, barely keeping a frustrated, and somewhat frightened, shout at bay. The first conscious thing to filter through his waking mind was in reaction to the dream he'd just had, _Oh, great, another weird dream! That's a great way to celebrate the opening day of Oktoberfest!_ Sighing, he reached out to his left, expecting to find a warm, comfortable and beautiful body lying next to him. He realized, with a disappointed sigh, that he was alone in the bed, but brightened upon a moment of consideration. There was residual warmth in the sheets, so Kim must have been up for a very short time indeed..

He opened his eyes, expecting to be in a semi-darkened room. With a groaning winced he screwed his eyes shut. "What time is it, anyway?"

After a moment of letting his eyes adjust to the light that managed to pierce even his eyelids, he hesitantly opened his eyes to a squint, and looked around the room once more. The first thing he looked for was the clock on the nightstand. _Seven AM?_ he pondered, _Well, I guess accumulating… Erm... Acquiri-… Acclimating, there we go! Acclimating to avoid jet lag worked…_

With a groan he stood and padded to the bedroom's open door, wishing he could stop with his old habit of failing to find the right word. It wasn't like he'd lacked the words! He had been forced to be a B+ student after joining the cheer team, and later football. He'd even managed a few A grades! And as amusing as stumbling over his own seemingly limited vocabulary had once been, even _he_ was getting annoyed with it!

He stopped his self-directed mental slapdown and just stood in the door upon seeing Kim on the suite's central phone. The light streaming in through the blinds made the dampness darkened red of her hair glow like the comforting embers of a fire. Even ordering breakfast in halting but passable German, she was breathtaking. But that wasn't what stopped him. No, what stopped him was what she was, or rather, _wasn't_ wearing while running a brush absently through her shower damp hair.

As she finalized the breakfast order, Ron decided he couldn't contain himself anymore. As silently as he could he crept up on her and as soon as she ended the call, wrapped his arms around her waist just high enough for his arm to brush the bottom of her bare breasts. The action earned him a squeak that quickly turned into a relaxed moan as he gently kissed her shoulder and began moving up her neck.

Kim leaned back into the embrace as he kissed the angle of her jaw and whispered in her ear, "You say I'm torturing you, but here I am, waking up after the first night in a hotel on our vacation, and you're on the phone ordering breakfast in _just_ your boyshorts?"

"Serves you right, Ronnie!" she chirped, wiggling her rear against his crotch and giggling at his facial, as well as bodily, reaction to the teasing sensation, "I've been like you are now for almost a month!"

"I'm starting to wonder if you're actually an evil clone or something!" Ron pouted at her. Kim leaned aside just enough so he could see her roll her eyes. He chuckled and leaned forward, "Love you…"

"Love you, too!" she whispered, leaning up into the kiss he'd offered. After the kiss was done, she grimaced lightly at him, "Okay, morning kiss out of the way, time to get that morning _breath_ out of the way!"

Ron staggered back melodramatically and placed a hand over his heart as Kim stood and walked towards the couch where she'd placed the rest of her clothing. He glanced over at the table where he saw his buddy who sat perusing the morning paper, "Did you hear that, Rufus?"

Rufus nodded and smiled innocently at his human, then reached up to hold his nose, "Uh, huh, uh, huh, phew!"

"Oh, I see how it is!" Ron chuckled as he walked towards the bathroom, jokingly sniffing at his armpits, "And you're right." He deepened his voice as dramatically as he could and paraphrased an old game he and Felix played from time to time, "The Ron-Man needs a shower, _badly_!"

"Oh, God," Kim cried with a laugh, "Did you _really_ just go there?"

"Yup!" Ron beamed while waggleing his eyebrows, "I'll be right out…"

"Your toothbrush is still in our toiletry bag, Ronnie!" Kim called as she pulled her shirt on over her head.

"Thanks, KP!" Ron called back, stripping as he stepped into the shower. The front and the side facing the tub were frosted glass, while the other walls were – similarly to a good portion of the bathroom floor and walls - a warm, deep brown set with a band alternating white and black triangular tiles.

He smiled as he started the water. Sixteen jets of water pulsed out of nozzles set into the stone tile along the front wall, and along the metal frame work in the glass back wall. The water caressing his body in a gentle thrum that relaxed muscles tense from both the dream and Kim's actions when he'd hugged her. Not that the latter truly bugged him; there was a reason he was fond of looser fitting pants! But as embarrassing as it could be to walk around in an obvious state of arousal, it was worse to be extremely public about it.

He turned and leaned closer to the front wall, the closer spacing pushing the massaging heat deeper into his back muscles as he thought about the dream. He wanted to deny that it was one of the so-called message dreams Master Sensei had told him about. Unfortunately, all of the clues that it was one were there; the strange incoherence of most of it, the use of memories either out of sequence or scrambled except for the important parts, and most of all, the confusion it left in his mind.

"Just what I need, to be told about something that's already happened!" He just hoped that it wasn't a dream warning him of dire consequences yet to come.

"_Do_not_overthink the messages, Stoppable-sama…"_ Master Sensei had warned him so many months ago, _"Just absorb them, and the reasons for them will become apparent when the time is right, much like your acceptance of the Mystical Monkey Power was preceded by dreams of fighting between Kimberly and Warmonga…"_

"Oh, God," Ron moaned in frustration, "No more aliens, not on our vacation!"

With that thought terrorizing his mind, he quickly finished his shower, hoping that a bit of the breakfast he could smell from the den would settle his nerves.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Thank you for coming to visit me." The elderly lady sighed gratefully in unaccented English as Kim and Ron stood in preparation to leave, "And… Thank you so much for giving me more time with my Fritz and our family."

"I'm just glad I could help you, Mrs…" Kim said brightly, blushing at the again unfamiliar sensation of using the woman's first name. Even so, she was far more relaxed after visiting with the woman whose life she had helped save.

"Please, deary," the woman smiled gently, "As I said earlier, call me Helen. After all, I'm old, but I'm no old maid!"

"Not a problem, Helen!" Ron agreed, smiling hugely. "And we'd stay and chat a bit more, but like we said, we wanted to catch the opening parade…"

"Of course, of course!" Fritz Hausmann chuckled, "We remember our youth quite well. It was, in fact, during Oktoberfest that Helen and I met! It was… 1957, Helen?"

"Yes, Love," Helen sniggered, "I was the simple American nurse attached to the Army whose girlfriends convinced her to go to the festival, and you were there sharing drinks with mere launderers for your father's hotel, yet played the part of the suave German business mogul in the making!"

"Silly old woman…" Fritz said fondly, glancing back at the two teens, "It is a pity our son is still on his way, I know he would like to have met you. We hope to see you again before you leave Germany, perhaps when Helen is allowed to leave the hospital?"

"Sure!" Kim agreed easily, smiling at the older couple who were still so obviously in love, "We'll look forward to it, and maybe we can meet your son then if business doesn't take him away?" At the pleased nods from the older couple, Kim beamed happily and waved at them, "See you later, Fritz, Helen!"

"We hope so!" Helen called, then both her and Fritz called out, "Auf Wiedersehen!"

As they walked out of the hospital, Kim glanced at Ron and reached out to grasp his hand in hers, "Okay, you were right, it wasn't that bad."

"Told ya, KP!" Ron quipped, giving her hand a few soft squeezes, "And you're right too. She does seem a lot like Nana, but kinda like Nana mixed with your mom…"

"True…" Kim answered after a few moments of pondering. She glanced at her fiancé and smiled, reaching out to tug lightly at the shoulder of his blue, fitted dress shirt. It showed off the body he'd developed during football and had kept due to his training at Yamanouchi; she suspected it was because she'd told him she liked it, which sent a warm sensation spreading throughout her being. "Thanks for wearing the outfit Mo helped me pick out for you, it looks… It's just completely badical as you'd say, Ronnie…"

"No problemo, KP!" Ron enthused, smoothing the front slightly and putting a hand in the pocket of his dark gray, khaki style pants. "Since we haven't had missions for a week, I can wear tighter clothes without rubbing bruises or cuts." He glanced back at her, and drank in the sight of her in a somewhat low cut, cream colored blouse and the tight, hip hugging blue jeans she wore and smiled at her, "But if I look good you, well… You look amazing, KP…"

"Flatterer." Kim tried to sound serious, but the bright, lovely smile gracing her features told Ron he'd said just the right thing.

"Truth!" Ron chuckled at her, earning a light blush as they made their way down to the _U-Bahn_ station to wait for the next train.

Kim reached across her body and slipped her other hand around Ron's arm, leaning into him with a sigh. "We just need to move to a different train once to get where we're gonna watch the Grand Entry of the Oktoberfest Landlords and Breweries, right?"

"Yup!" Ron enthused, happy she had relaxed so much, "And as a matter of fact, the train should be here in about two minutes."

"Good!" Kim said with a smile, leaning up slightly to kiss his cheek. She heard a couple of low cries of appreciation of the affectionate display, and caught a group of seven girls bedecked in traditional _dirndl_ outfits down the platform a bit gazing at them. Rather low cut _dirndl_, considering one of the girls was leaning over as if to get a better view of them was giving anyone looking at _her_ an almost unimpeded view down her neckline. "And it seems you have some admirers, Ronnie."

Her voice was deadpan, but the smirk on her face showed she was teasing him, "Yeah, but both of us, probably, KP. I mean, Helen said that all of Team Possible was popular here!"

"Yeah?" Kim laughed slightly as the girl caught Kim's raised eyebrow, and looked down to see she was almost falling out of the dress' deep neckline. Blushing, she carefully straightened herself and pulled the front of her dress up slightly, seeming only slightly embarrassed, but worried Kim would be angry at the show.

Kim smiled at the girl to show she hadn't taken much offense, and turned back to Ron with a teasingly stern gaze, "But if you remember, she _also_ said that _you_ were more popular than the rest of the team combined! And that you were more popular than David Hasselhoff ever was!"

"Um, I guess?" he croaked evasively, trying to act nervous at Kim's faux glare. Kim held the look for all of five seconds before her face dissolved into a giggling fit that Ron found himself joining. "Don't scare me like that, KP!" he griped, "I… I was kinda worried you might get annoyed at that…"

"What, that you finally get some recognition?" Kim asked with some real annoyance in her voice at his comment. She paused for a moment as Ron looked away in embarrassment and reaching with his free hand to scratch the back of his neck. She smiled softly, cupping his face and bringing his eyes back to hers, "Ronnie… I love you, and yes, I'm a little jealous, but… Honestly, you deserve so much more credit than you've gotten, and I'm happy."

"R-really?" Ron asked askance, blinking at her. Kim relaxed a touch as one of the girls, a statuesque woman with black hair, greeted a young man and two of his friends, all three dressed in _lederhosen_. The woman had not made any overt displays like the buxom girl that had bent over, but she had eyed Ron with a manner familiar to Kim, the look of a shark about to devour its food.

"Really!" Kim admitted after a moment and a barely hidden evil smirk as the tall woman blushed at her apparent boyfriend's appearance. Turning her attention fully to Ron, she raised an eyebrow at him, "Just don't let it go to your head like the Naco money or the haircut did, and I'll be happy."

"No worries, KP!" Ron agreed, pausing for a few moments to consider her words. He nodded when she raised an eyebrow at him, "I… Kinda got over that thanks to seeing how Bonnie calmed down and grew up a bit. I guess…"

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by a hesitant, nervous young woman's voice. "H-herr Stoppable?" It was one of the girls that had been cooing over their displays of affection. Ironically - in Kim's opinion, at least – it was the one who had worn the rather low cut dress.

She was an attractive, freckle faced young woman, probably a college student. The blonde, grey eyed woman was almost shivering with excitement, and while she was shorter than Kim had been in high school, she was every bit as well endowed of hips and bosom as Monique had ever been.

"How can I help you, ma'am?" Ron asked in German, and the girl held out a book that any celebrity would likely be familiar with.

"M-my name is Freda, and my friends and I… Ehm, w-we were hoping to get celebrity autographs at the _Käfers Wiesen Schänke_ beer tent, but since we saw you here…"

"You want my autograph?" Ron asked, adding, "What about Kim and Rufus?"

The woman glanced at Kim nervously, and then down at Rufus who had popped his head out of Ron's pocket at the mention of his name. The woman blushed slightly, adding a hesitant, "If it's no trouble?"

"What do you think, KP, Rufus?" he asked with a huge smile on his face.

"That'd be fine, Freda!" Kim agreed in halting German, blushing as the girl bounced in place a few times, her ample bosom seeming to try and escape the dress like a caged animal. She was happy, though; while autographs were nothing new for her, it was rare that Ron got asked for them in public as often happened with her. At schools or events honoring heroes, yes, but someone starting with _Ron_ was a new experience for the both of them and one she felt honest enthusiasm about.

"Thank you!" she cried, and the other seven girls came over, as well as the three men that had joined their retinue.

After finishing the autographs, the men and women thanked them and went back to their section of the platform. With a happy sigh, Kim leaned into Ron's side again, while Rufus crawled back down from his shoulder to his place in Ron's pocket. "That was ferociously cool… And you did awesome with them!"

"Yeah, but that tall one was kinda weirding me ou-…" Ron stopped with an expression of mixed shock, annoyance and ultimate resignation as the Kimmunicator went off with their mission ringtone.

Kim growled and activated it, but her protest to Wade stopped stillborn. Instead of Wade, there was a middle aged man in a Global Justice uniform on screen, and he was looking about nervously. "Um, what's the sitch?"

The man started and looked chagrined, but nodded and began speaking with an almost exceedingly thick French accent. "I apologize foor bozhering hyu on hyour vacation, Team Possibell," he murmured, "I ham Pierre Morel, Global Joostice Europe's Second Agen'. I felt zis too important no' to pass on, so I used zee emergency contac' bypass whe hafe for hyu since hyu are in Germany."

"Well…" Kim started, and sighed, "What is it?"

"Zere are… Rumors." He glanced around again, as if uncertain if he should continue, then swallowed, "Some people are saying zat zere is an offerr of tain million Euros foor zomeone to steal zee opening tap for zee Oktoberfest ceremonies. An' since it is of Lorwardian technology zat is forbidden to anyhone except for zee governments and zose hired to research zee metal…"

"It would be a rare and valuable item. Okay," Kim nodded, "And what do you need Team Possible to do, Sir? After all, we were assured that precautions were being taken because, well…"

"I understand, Miss Possibell," the man favored her with a kindly smile, "But it is also rumored zat zee former villainess Shego has been spotted in Munich, as part of a zeft ring. And, honestly, zere har only a very few people in zee world capable of handling her…" The man sighed and looked around again, nervously as if afraid of someone there would find him on the phone. "Hyu are among zose few. We, I an' a few members of zee agency, are no' asking hyu to become involved unless zhe shows up, however… We hwould like to see her remain on zee side of justice, non?"

Ron saw Kim's face, and the shock that registered there, and decided to take over for her before her temper could catch up to her shock. "Right, thank you, Mr. Pierre!" Ron said, cutting the man off in mid word. He glanced at Kim, who was still confused, but he could see that changing to the slow burn he knew would lead to a Mount Possible style blowup. "KP, you do realize this could be a mistake, right?"

"It goddamn well better be…" Kim snapped at him, then sighed as he winced slightly. She looked chagrined and shook her head, "Sorry, Ron, but I really hoped… I mean, I know her and Dra-… Drew broke up, but… Maybe she did go evil again…"

"But it was a very applicable breakup, wasn't it?" Ron asked, slipping into old habits to try and calm his girlfriend, or at least redirect her anger.

"Amiable, Ron!" Kim glowered at him, swatting his chest lightly.

"Oh, yeah, that too," Ron grinned, but became serious as he realized Kim was still tense, "But, seriously, KP… I think we should call Wade and have him do some quick research, right? I mean, sometimes people _do_ react badly to breakups…"

"Right, but I don't see that driving her back to evil." Kim agreed as their subway train pulled up to the platform, "I'll call him as soon as we're on our way, okay?"

"Right." Ron agreed, hugging her briefly before they got on the train. When they found their seats, Kim called Wade, and told him about their conversation.

"That's…" Wade began, then stopped in confusion, "That's messed up, Kim. I mean, she's legit!"

"I know, Wade, but it was a Global Justice operative!" Kim argued in a slightly frustrated tone, "And not just an agent, but the second in command here in Europe!"

"But…" Wade began, and Kim shook her head firmly.

"I know you and Drew helped her out with getting a new suit, and Drew was trying to get her a real job, Wade!" Kim said, "But according to this guy, she's implicated, so the real job might not have panned out… Look, can you just get some information on whether he's right or if he's been fed a line of bull for me?"

"Alright, Kim," Wade agreed, then fixed her with a firm stare, "But promise me you'll keep your cool if you _do_ see her? I know you've been stressed lately, and it's your time of the month…"

"I'll try, Wade!" Kim squawked indignantly, sticking her tongue out as Wade laughed at her blushing face, "I promise, I will, but…"

"I know, Kim…" the teenaged hacker sighed, "Just… Trust me, I think someone's playing someone here, and I _don't_ think it's Shego…"

"Just keep us posted, Wade." Kim reiterated, "Talk to you later." The rest of the ride to their destination was uneventful, and Kim just enjoyed leaning against Ron.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Wow…" Ron said with an awed expression, staring at the people lining the parade route from the position he and Kim had taken on the northeast corner of _Schwanthalerstraße_and_Goethestraße_. Kim nodded in mute agreement as she looked around them, shaking her head in appreciation. There was a mix of people from all over the continent, as well as off continent lining the street. It was a riotous mix of modern style, casual, college style party clothing, and even some people in traditional Bavarian costume all about.

"Don't stare too hard, Ronnie…" Kim cooed teasingly as she caught a somewhat long glance Ron had thrown across the street at another group of women in _dirndl_.

"I think Monique would love to do something with outfits like that…" Ron said absently as he looked around some more. He was about to comment that he thought he saw the head of the parade turning onto _Schwanthalerstraße_ when both he and Kim's Kimmunicator went off within a half second of each other. Kim's played the ringtone of _Meet Me In Montana_, and Ron's played _Mr. Roboto_. "Joss and Felix? I wonder if there's trouble?"

"One way to find out…" Kim replied with trepidation. Schooling her voice into a calm mask, she answered it voice only. "Hey, Joss, what's the si-…" Kim winced as Joss all but screamed in a mix of anger and despondence. She immediately turned the volume down on the Kimmunicator. "Hey, Joss, calm down and…"

"Cous," the Montanan interrupted, "I'm sorry fo' interruptin' th' vacation, but… Y'know I'm teamin' up wit' that cutie Felix, right?" Kim winced at the words, and the fact that her cousin's accent was out in full force. Even though the girl tended to drop into the accent when she was back on the ranch with Uncle Slim, she normally had it well under control.

Not surprising, since although she'd been homeschooled, she'd had to take physical education classes and study halls at school. Because of that, she shared the trait of nearly unaccented American English that most northern Rocky Mountain state citizens had. She'd graduated at the same time as the Tweebs and Kim, and had started attending the University of Montana at the end of August.

Although it helped to take the rough edges off of her accent, it was still quite awkward for her. Even though only fifteen years old, she had been raised on a ranch, and had lost her mother at the tender age of six. Her father had taught her about life as best he could, better in many ways than Kim's own father had managed with her. All of that considered, she was more grown up - or at least more mature - than most high school graduates.

_Except when it comes to romance…_ Kim winced, _This is going to be a long conversation…_ Aloud, she schooled her voice into as neutral a tone as she could, "Yeah?" She glanced at Ron and her fiancé gazed back in sympathy and stepped a few feet away, and both of them made their way to lean against the building behind them. Kim sighed and turned her back to Ron for good measure, having a feeling that Ron's call was going to be similar, if a bit less angry than hers. "What about it?"

"Tha's jus' it!" the fifteen year old heroine declared, "I mean, he's smart, has an amazin' personality, an' Daddy thinks he's awesome! An' he's cute! Have y'seen his arms? God, I'd love to get 'em 'roun' me!" Joss made a very adult sounding moan of anticipation, and Kim couldn't help but feel her heart drop at the sound.

She opened her mouth to say just what was on her mind, but Joss' voice, once again filled with anger, interrupted her, "But I asked 'im out, an' he's bein' an asshole t'me an' sayin' I'd be better off datin' someone my own age!"

"Um, Joss…" the red head sighed, "He's also four years older than yo-…"

"Nuh, uh!" her cousin griped with a huff in her voice, "He's only three years an' seven months older'n I am! An' I'm turnin' sixteen at th' end'a nex' month!"

"And he'll be nineteen in January!" Kim blurted with a strangled cry, "Okay, can you see the problem?"

"No, I don' see a prob'm!" Joss countered, "Shit, cous, I'm not _askin'_ 'im t' _screw_ me, I'm _askin'_ 'im t'go out on a _date_ with me, goddammit!"

"Joss, language!" Kim scolded, "And that doesn't matter! Just dating you could land him in trouble with statutory la-…"

"Not if Daddy don' have a prob'm wit' 'im datin' me!" Joss cried in frustration, "An' I a'ready asked an' he said that if Felix said 'Yeah' then'e wouldn' have any issues wit' it 's long as he kept it in 'is pants 'til I was of age!"

"Joss…" Kim sighed while gently pinching the bridge of her nose between a thumb and forefinger, "I think your dad's idea of 'of age' and yours _might_ be a bit different?"

"Nope!" her cousin countered smugly, "I already asked Daddy if he meant age a'consent, or age a'majority… An' since he an' Momma were expectin' me when she was seventeen, he said he'd be a friggin' hypocrite t'say age a'majority! Jus' as long as we're careful, he don' care…"

"Joss…" Kim sighed heavily, covering her eyes with her hand. Taking a moment to think, she took a breath and prepared herself to hear a long stream of crying, cursing, or both, "Are you taking _Felix's_ feelings into account on this? He might think he'd be taking advantage of you, or isn't sure you'd want to be with him. I mean, yeah, he's well adjusted, but he's also wheelchair bound…"

"I…" Joss said with a sigh, "I know, cous… Tha's just it, though… Daddy's workin' wit' Felix's mom on somethin' for 'is birthday, a new set'a legs… Kinna like 'is chair, but he'll be able t'walk an' stuff, an' get 'round better' an' stuff… An'…"

"And?" Kim asked when Joss paused for a significant time.

When Joss spoke again, her accent was almost her normal, neutral Mountain State accent, or rather, lack thereof. As if she was thinking about the situation instead of angry and full of despair. "I really, _really_ like him, Cousin Kim… I mean, not like th' crush I had on Ron or on that Brad asswipe last semester…"

"Have you told Felix that, calmly like you're telling me right now?" Kim asked in a frustrated groan, fearing the worst.

"I tried, but he jus' won't listen!" Joss growled, her anger picking up again.

"Calm. Down." Kim growled right back. She glanced back at Ron and smirked upon hearing Ron's words to their friend, an idea forming as Ron caught her gaze. It was as if they had a silent conversation going on between them as a mutual plan formed to, hopefully, resolve this problem before it started. "Joss, give him a few hours, or maybe even a day or two to calm down, and then approach him rationally, and lay out the facts as you see them. And listen to him in return! If you approach it logically, he should understand, right? And keep in mind… He's a friend of ours, but he's also a nerd, and nervous socially as it is, but when a cute girl that's underage approaches him, I'm sure you can see why he'd be nervous, right?"

"Maybe…" Joss said, and Kim almost laughed as Ron gave the reverse speech to Felix.

"No maybe to it." Kim said firmly, "Just give him some space, unless there's a mission or something, but… When you talk to him, make sure he knows you want a serious, adult conversation about it." She heard Joss swallow anxiously and chuckled slightly, continuing in a teasing manner, "And especially don't act like a scared little girl with a crush, 'kay?"

"If you thin-…" Joss started with an irritated splutter, but a suddenly serious Kim cut her off.

"Look, Joss, I've got to go…" Kim said, concentrating on the southwestern corner of the building she was leaning against. She could have sworn she'd just seen…

"Trouble?" Joss asked, worry suddenly eclipsing her personal problems. Kim glanced at Ron and then at the end of the building. Ron sighed and nodded in understanding, indicating his thoughts were in line with the red-head's.

"Yeah, possibly." Kim agreed, hoping she was actually giving the right kind of advice, since even people hitting her in the head with the obvious had flown right past her about Ron, "Just… Don't overdo it, or you'll never get a chance with Felix, alright? And be prepared to listen to his side of things! Promise?"

"I will, Cousin Kim," Joss sighed in defeat, "I promise…"

"Okay, talk to you later!" Kim shut her Kimmunicator down and caught up to Ron as he made his way quickly, but unobtrusively to the corner of the building. Kim followed behind him, and around the side of the building, muting her Kimmunicator just in case. Ron was looking up at a point near the front of the building with a considering expression.

Kim glanced down the length of the roof, and was rewarded by the sight of a dark colored boot slipping over the roof's edge. She also noticed a pair of slacks and a dress shirt on the ground below where she'd seen the boot. "There, Ron!" she whispered, pointing. Ron grimaced, opening his mouth to say something, but Kim was already in motion. Grabbing him, she launched her wrist mounted Kimmunicator's grapnel.

It was a new design, much like her mission wear. The winch was even stronger than before, and while there was still a grapnel function available, she could choose between it and two other modes: a super strong magnet for metal structures that was based on Lorwardian technology, and was able to hold up to seven hundred pounds, and a gecko foot-like pad that would hold even more weight against the right surface.

In this case, Kim was using the lattermost, and Ron found himself barely holding back a squawk of surprise as he and Kim were launched towards the roof of the building. At the last second, Kim kicked off of the building and let the retract function pull herself back towards the building, while simultaneously detaching the grapnel's end from the building. The two of them swept up and over the edge and a couple feet onto the roof proper.

"Shego!" Kim breathed, a mix of vindication that she was right, worry about being right, and shock at the woman standing at the front of the building, glancing back and forth across both the parade route and the building southeast across the intersection.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Rat One to all Rats," the woman whispered in annoyance, her very mild Russian accent thick with derision, "I thought you said neither the turncoat or the hero were going to be involved?"

"My source vas gut!" a German accented woman who was Rat Four replied testily, "And vas about our other contacts? Ve are short five people!"

"Are you saying a nine man team can not do this?" Rat One answered with disgust dripping from her voice, "We have the best equipment available! Use it, take them all out if needs be!"

"Y'all got it, missus Rat One!" Rat Three answered, his Texas drawl slow and thoughtful as he carefully charged the first round of his specially designed rifle. Barely two feet long, it was the newest thing on the market: a two thousand ampere plasma projector. It fired a two centimeter plasma ball at over nine hundred meters per second, suffered less than eight centimeters of drop - and was capable of a one half MOA grouping - at its nominal range of one thousand, five hundred meters, and would strike a target with the force of a three hundred grain, .338 magnum rifle round at that range.

He looked through the advanced, computerized tactical scope, inputting the elevation change, approximate wind speed, and confirmed the scope's built in laser range finder with an external unit. "Ah'm all sighted in, ready't' shoot at y'all's convenience, ma'am."

"Thank you, Rat Three." Rat One answered, chewing on the information he'd relayed to her.

Rat Three could give a very good guess as to what she was thinking about. While the team wanted to avoid using him as more than a spotter, every eventuality had to be considered. "Y'think we shoul' act now 'r wait a spell?"

"Wait…" Rat Six answered, interrupting Rat One and Rat Three's trains of thought. His indeterminate Asian accent, while noticeable, was clear and held a note of professional calm most of the team seemed to lack, "It seems there is dissention in the ranks of our foes…"

**Author's Notes**

Ok, that was interesting. Just who _is_ the bad guy here? Who is the good guy? I'm not saying, but I think I might've made it a touch too obvious there…

And for the next chapter or two, I'm going to try and keep the Author's Notes and/or Forward short… Or at least shortish. ^_^;; And I apologize to anyone that noticed that I phoneticized some of the accents, but haven't as yet done it much with German. I'd do it more with German, but I rather suck at phonetically writing English with a German accent… Hopefully it's not too annoying to you readers out there, 'cause I know some people consider it quite distracting. That said, for me, it's a fun challenge to write and present it legibly, and I _personally_ find it amusing and fun when it's pulled off well! ^_^;;

At any rate, thanks as always to Neo for the legibility and readability beta, and hopefully I caught most of the mistakes. So, I hope everyone who has read this is enjoying it, and remember, there's a lot of fics out there to enjoy, so keep reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Forward**

A bit later than planned (real life interrupted both myself and my beta, Neo…), and quite a lot longer… I know that makes it somewhat of a pain to read, but both I and Neo felt that breaking the chapter up would introduce too much of a disjoint in the reading and flow, so… Here ya are! Quick apologies for not having review replies here in the Author's Forward or down in the Author's Notes, but the chapter's big enough as is… ^_^;; Anyway, hope ya like, let me know what you think!

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Shego was surprised to hear the voice. She had thought she'd seen the teenaged heroine and her boyfriend, but she had dismissed it as a mix of paranoia and, honestly, wishful thinking. If what she'd already seen was accurate, she and her allies would be dealing with at least six well equipped thieves. And if the intermittent glitter she saw at the top of the Hausmann Suites hotel was what she thought it was…

She reached up and tapped the button that dropped her in the general communications circuit and spoke in rapid fire German, "Hausmann Suites, possible sniper, check and report, over."

Turning back to Kim, she smirked, for some reason honestly happy to see the red-head here, "What brings you here, Princess?"

"A vacation," Kim grumped, "Which seems to have been interrupted…"

"Sucks for you…" Shego grimaced, "Me too, but at least I'm being paid for honest work…"

"Hones-…" Kim started, but was interrupted by Ron speaking up and over her voice.

"Um, Shego," he laid a hand he hoped was calming on Kim's shoulder. The sudden tensing worried him, and he hoped he was right about what he'd heard, "What was that about a sniper?"

Shego blinked, not realizing that the Buffoon spoke German. Shrugging slightly, she spoke in a neutral tone, "I spotted what could be someone with a telephoto camera lens in Hausmann Suites, but considering the location…" She waved around vaguely at their surroundings, "I'm worried someone's gonna try something stupid…"

"Why're you here, though?" Ron asked, "I mean, I could understand you being here for Oktoberfest, but…"

"Working, Buffoon," Shego smirked ironically, missing the twitching under Kim's right eye as she used an old nickname that, if Ron's reminiscent smile was any gauge, was harmless. "Getting a nice li'l chunk of change to make things go smoothly down there."

"Don't call Ron a Buffoon, Shego!" Kim snapped, drawing Shego's annoyed gaze at her, "And I supposed your work's all about the rumored theft ring after the opening tap?"

"Yeah, exactly like that!" Shego groused at her, "Just 'cause I'm here doesn't mean I'm a bad guy, Princess!"

"KP…" Ron said warningly, but she ignored him and stalked a few feet towards Shego.

"We've heard that you might be involved in that…" Kim said in a dangerous tone, not noticing her Kimmunicator's screen flashing an incoming call, "And you don't sound all that different than the last time we fought!"

"Jesus Christ on a crutch!" Shego snapped, rolling her eyes, "Once evil always evil, eh?"

"Well, if the shoe fits," Kim spat, "You're the one on top of a roof along the parade route, know what I mean?"

Shego glared at Kim and half turned away as a voice came over her headset. "Typical goddamn hero with a God complex," Shego grumped, not realizing she was speaking her thoughts aloud, "I suppose you'd think a woman that had a miscarriage is evil 'cause that's like abortion, too..."

"Ladies, can we cal-…" Ron started, but Kim bulled through his word over him as if he wasn't there.

"Not that abortions and miscarriages have anything to do with this, but no!" Kim fumed, "A miscarriage is rarely the woman's fault, and besides, as much as I dislike abortion, it's sometimes necessary, and not _my_ place to tell another woman what to do with her body!"

"I didn't say…" Shego grimaced as she realized she'd spoken aloud, and shook her head like a lioness annoyed by a persistent fly, lighting her hands up and dropping into a stance. "Whatever, Princess! The person I was after already moved on, and if you wanna rumble with me _that_ bad, fine!"

"This isn't about 'wanting to rumble' or anything!" Kim griped while making air quotes, "We have it on good authority tha-…"

"Oh, yes, as if _no one_ would _ever_ want to cause trouble with a former thief!" Shego snipped back, "Y'know what? Maybe I _should_ just quit my current job and go back to a life of crime! I mean, ten million Euros for stealing from a country I _never_ did anything wrong in would be _so_ worth going back to a life on the run, right? Tell me, Princess, would that make you happy? Especially since I was here on legitimate business?"

"KP, she mi-…" Ron tried again, sighing as he was again ignored.

"Theft isn't legitimate business!" Kim hissed, "And someone within GJ already told us we had to watch out for you!"

"GJ's one eyed bitch is who got me this job, Cupcake!" Shego hissed right back, "Screw it, I have work one way or the other, I'm done screwing around!" Kim blinked and flinched at the woman's vehemence. During that brief instant of distraction, the pale woman launched herself at Kim, intent only on distracting her or at worst, giving a burst of her low power, knockout plasma.

"Whoa, hold up!" Ron called out, but Shego seemed to ignore him. Which was why she was shocked into inaction as she found her hands intercepted with the glowing blue of Ron's hands.

Kim looked just as surprised as Shego that the blonde had appeared between them, bending backwards to grab Shego's hands and using the impetus provided to launch his legs forward to wrap around the red-head's shoulders. He then yanked down with his legs, the move trapping the heroine's wrists at her hips even as he bent forward, shoving her over onto her rear end, her back staying off of the rock and asphalt of the roof by his legs. With the same motion, he threw the still startled Shego over his head, twisting their arms so she could get her legs below her before she struck.

The move ended up with Shego crouching barely six inches past the red-head, her glaring face looking straight at the top of Ron's head. Meanwhile Ron looked down at a scowling, angry looking Kim, and couldn't help but grin, letting his mouth speak whatever came out of it, "Oh, hi, KP!"

Kim was about to sputter something, but Ron leaned down and gave her a quick, intense kiss before sitting down on her hips and staring at Shego, "Hey, hold up, peace, truce, parley!"

"Wha-…" Shego screwed up her face in confusion, her rage currently forgotten by the silly, goofily grinning face Ron presented to her. Then, as if remembering he was supposed to be playing a role, his face devolved into a fearful, wide eyed gaze, even while he was somehow neutralizing her power.

The former thief shook herself like a wet cat and began bearing down on the rather sizable hands holding hers, and found that despite the monkey power, she was still a good bit stronger than he was. "You'd better have a good goddamn reason for interfering with me, both of you!"

Ron winced, fighting against the powerful grip in his, "Hey, lay off the game of mercy and calm down the flames, they're still pretty warm here!" He glanced down at Kim and let one of her hands somewhat free, "KP, Wade called my Kimmunicator, he's been trying to call you, he got the info you wanted about Shego! He was right, this is a huge screw up somewhere!"

"What?" Kim cried in confusion. Shego doused her plasma and Ron let her go, allowing the thief to slip back a couple feet to fall heavily on her rump, annoyance crawling across her face. Kim pulled an arm free and reaching across to answer her wrist Kimmunicator in speaker mode, a blush already crawling across her face. "Go, Wade…"

"Hey, Kim, erm… Hi, Shego…" Wade breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that Ron had managed to avert a disaster, "I don't know what's going on, but I called Betty directly and told her what you told me. Well, she called in GJ Europe's second, since she's in Strasbourg, and he had no clue what we were talking about, so I think someone was trying to get you to fight with Shego…"

"Oh, lovely!" Shego griped, then chuckled mirthlessly as a bitter smile crossed her face, "Seems like we were set up, Kimmie… All of us!"

"Probably," Wade agreed, "Kim, Betty said to tell you that Shego's working with the Munich Police and Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office to stop the theft…"

"But…" Kim glanced at Shego, "Why didn't you sa-…"

"Because you didn't give her a chance, KP!" Ron snapped, losing his patience a bit with Kim's anger. He grimaced at the look of hurt that came across her face, and decided to spit out the first thing on his mind. After all, it'd worked in the past when he really, really needed it, and it seemed like this was one of those times, "Look, it's Oktoberfest, so how about, after Shego's done with this, we all sit down in a beer tent somewhere and just chillax, have a few drinks and some awesome food, catch up with each other, something like that?"

"Why not?" Shego retorted, earning a glare from Kim and a hopeful, agreeing nod from both Ron and Rufus.

"I-…" Kim began, but Ron leaning down to kiss her again stopped her.

"Calmly, KP, please?" he asked, his voice strained, "Look, I know you're stressed 'bout yesterday, and the PMS-ing doesn't help, bu-…"

"Shutup, Ron!" Kim snapped at him, "Fine, goddammit, I'm friggin' sorry, okay?" The cursing brought a shocked stare to Shego's face and drew a sigh from Ron, "It's not like I did this on purpose or anything!"

"KP, c'mon," he tried instead, "We made a mistake, okay? Maybe we should've called Wade first, but it doesn't matter, 'cause nothing's happened yet, right?"

"Right…" Shego glowered at him, wondering first how often the two of them got into little tiffs like this, and how Ron had come to have a clue. She pursed her lips, shaking her head and considering a little experiment, "Look, I have shit to do…"

"Yeah, one goddamn second!" Kim snapped, glaring at Shego for a second, before closing her eyes and nodding her head as if counting. At six, she sighed and glanced at Wade's worried visage on the Kimmunicator, "Okay, so Shego's actually the good guy here, right?"

"Yup!" Wade exclaimed, relieved that Kim was accepting the facts, "I'm already trying to figure out who got the codes to get through to you, and where in the Strasbourg office they called from…"

"Good." Kim turned to Shego and surprised the older woman immensely. She was a bit teary eyed, and frustrated, but most of all, chagrinned and embarrassed. "I… I'm sorry, Shego, for assuming the worst… I... It's been a really rough few months, and I feel like I'm the butt of about a thousand cosmic jokes at the same goddamn time…"

"Accepted, I guess…" Shego said, continuing with a flippant, "And join the club!" She smirked sardonically at the red-head, but was honestly happy that she didn't have to fight her today. Despite her frustration and the lingering anger from the accusations red-head had thrown at the former thief, she still liked the girl, despite the goody-goody image she seemed to have with everyone.

_Then again, I don't remember hearing her cuss before, not even at the top of the BN build-…_ She crushed the last bit of that thought with a vengeance, and contented herself with an evil smirk. _I wonder how people would react if they found out Kim Possible really _was_ just a regular girl at heart?_

"Um… Sorry for snapping at you, too, Ronnie…" She continued, looking up at Ron with a sorrowful pout, "And you, too, Wade. I mean it, I shouldn't have…"

"No worries, Kim," Wade nodded sagely, before remotely switching the Kimmunicator over to Bluetooth mode, "And it's a good thing Shego's being okay with this… She could have had you arrested, since she's essentially deputized right now…"

"Oh." was all Kim could think to say, realizing that she'd almost let her issues get her and Ron into a lot of trouble. "Sorry again… Um, could you tell the Munich Police we're gonna be helping out along with Shego?"

"No problem, Kim, but I gotta go," Wade sounded bemused by the whole situation, "Betty's asked me to help her tech guys with the search, but if something comes up, call me, 'kay?"

"Okay." Kim agreed, looking back at Ron as she disconnected the call.

"KP, you okay with thi-…" Ron started, but stopped as a deep gray thumb and finger closed his lips. He glanced up to see that Shego had stood and walked over to them, and was wearing a devilish smirk, "Yeph?"

"Tell ya what, _Ronnie_…" she snickered at the indignant expression that came over Kim's face. Letting go of Ron's lips, she continued, "You two help me with this shit, and buy the beers and food today, and I'll show ya 'round the 'Fest, maybe Munich proper, 'kay?"

"Sure!" Ron agreed, giving Kim a significant look.

Kim sighed and grimaced, but then nodded, thinking back to the time when Shego was Miss Go. This was definitely not Miss Go, but somehow, she seemed more… Real than Miss Go had been. And with the growing up that Kim had gone through since the whole Reverse Polarizer incident, she realized that, perhaps, this version of Shego, the _real_ Shego, could be a lot more fun to be around.

"Well, Princess?" Shego asked, snapping Kim out of her temporary stupor.

"That…" Kim admitted with seeming reluctance, before giving a hesitant smirk, "Could actually be a lot of fun…"

"Hey, you'll be with me!" Shego declared confidently. "And since I'm here by myself and no one I normally come with is free this year, it works for all of us." Shego concluded, "Trust me, being alone during Oktoberfest kinda sucks…"

"I bet…" Ron said, surprising Shego and giving Kim a surge of pride as he added, "I'm sorry you've ever had to, Shego…"

Shego turned over her shoulder for a moment and stared at Ron, only to shrug after a moment. "Meh, it's life." she muttered as she turned to watch as t he head of the parade reached the halfway point of the next block to the east.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Rat Nine to all Rats," the woman hissed, a very light Indian accent peeking through her otherwise flawless Queen's English, "I am in my position at the southwest corner of the intersection."

"I'm in positi'n 'bout fwoty meters t' Rat Nine's nort'west, ground level!" Rat Two called, his heavy Bronx accent drawing an appreciative snicker from Rat Nine, "I see Mean 'n' Green, an' she's lookin' pretty intently ova' in Six's direction, youse guys t'ink she seen 'im?"

"It is possible," Rat Six admitted uneasily, "There is little wind, and she may have seen the shrubbery I am using move."

"Alright, Three, you may have to take your shot." Rat One muttered, not liking the way this was going, "Only if she is on the move, however."

"Notta prob'm li'l lady." Rat Three muttered, "Wan' me t'try'n' wing 'er, or take'r out f'r good? An' whadabou' Team Poss'ble?"

"Wound, if at all possible," Rat One said after a moment, "We do not need the heat killing either of them would bring…"

"Well…" Rat Three muttered after taking a moment to observe them, "Ah jus' zoomed in on 'em, an' I dun see anythin' t'show tha' they' doin' anything other'n watchin'. I mean, Team Poss'ble's wearin' Bluetooth, but wit' th' way she's leanin' 'gainst th' roof Iunno… An' Shego's watchin' th' p'rade ag'in… Mebe she got 'em t'come ovah t' our sid'a th' fence? "

"Which means even more trouble for us!" Rat One snipped. Her grimace became a full fledged scowl as she considered the situation…

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Kim glanced at Ron as Shego walked over to the edge of the roof. Her fiancé had a contemplative look in his eyes, and Kim felt the same emotion she saw in his eyes sweeping through her. Sympathy, understanding and the desire to help. She leaned in to whisper to him as quietly as she could, "She sounds pretty down…"

"Yup," Ron agreed, gazing at the beautiful woman as she watched the area surrounding the parade route. He stepped up with a few feet separating them as she suddenly concentrated on a building southeast of their position, nodding Kim over with his head.

She complied and moved up, whispering while trying to keep her mouth from moving, "What's the sitch?"

"I might've spotted someone…" Shego muttered, her mouth moving out of synch with her words. She reached up to tap the earbud Kim could barely see, as if she were scratching her ear. Speaking in that same out of synch manner while pointing to the head of the parade, she passed the information along, as well as the building where she'd spotted the movement.

Kim glanced at her Kimmunicator, looking for all the world like she was checking the time, but called Wade with audio only while trying to keep her lip movements subtle, "Sorry to interrupt, Wade, how busy are you?"

"Not so much I can't help out if you need it, Kim!" he assured her.

"Okay, well, since Ron and I are helping Shego out, we're gonna need some technical backup." Kim informed him while concentrating on the head of the parade as if she were just watching it, "Could you do some IR scans of the surroundings while I lean against the roof boundary?"

"Sure thing, Kim!" Wade chirped, tapping away furiously at his keyboard.

Ron took a slow breath and connected his Kimmunicator to Kim's, leaning into her and acting like he was kissing her neck while watching the parade. He let his eyes lose direct focus and relaxed, trying to recall the things Hirotaka had trained him in during his last few visits to Yamanouchi. "_To find someone attempting to avoid detection, you must look outside of sense within your sense. See without strain, hear without thought, scent, taste, even touch; all of these you will need, Stoppable-sama, and the MMP will guide you…_"

There was a subtle, seemingly audible click, and he relaxed slightly, _Go MMP!_ he barely kept his exclamation to himself, and instead whispered aloud, "There's someone almost straight across the _Schwanthalerstraße_, top of the building."

"I see them." Wade confirmed.

"My target's moving, changing position to the next building over." Reaching up as if to scratch at her ear again, she activated the earbud headset and called out to her team, Kim and Ron, "They're wearing stealth suits. Damn good ones, too."

"Kim, I've tapped into the cameras around the street," Wade cut in, "I'm getting some hints at movement with IR equipped night vision cams, but they're mostly out of the range of the Kimmunicator's pickup. Looks like a pretty big team, at least five…"

"Wade says at least five…" Kim reported for Shego's benefit, and Shego grimaced, passing along a few more instructions to some of the police around the area, "Pass their locations on to the local people, please and thank you."

"Six man minimum," she reported, "The _Bundeskriminalamt_ just got their sniper, thank God…"

"S-sniper?" Kim barely kept herself from screeching out.

"Ten million Euros is a _lot_ of money, Princess…" Shego growled to Team Possible, "Heads up, the _Münchner Kindl_ is just passing the _Goethestraße_, the tap's being carried just behind her, by the guy that took over for the Clockwork Knight."

"In that armored chest?" Kim asked. Shego nodded, both her and Kim blinking as they caught something moving into the street through a break in the crowd next to a parking entrance.

"Movement! Everyone in position on our targets?" the former thief asked into her headset. "Alright… _Move_! Jonesy, get that horse down the street, _on the double_! "

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Ah'm thinkin' they' jus' watchin' from a good vant'ge, ever'body…" Rat Three said with a relaxed chuckle.

"I think youse is right," Rat Two called out, "Stowppable looks like he's getting' ready to do da doity right ther' in fronta God 'n' ever'bawdy!"

"Y'go'tha'right, Bronxy," Rat Three chuckled, "They'all're 'bout in posit-oof!"

"Three?" Rat One called out, pausing for a few seconds before calling again, "Rat Three, come in!"

"They're in position!" the aristocratic British accent belonging to Rat Five intoned, "Shall we move?"

"Negative!" Rat One snapped at him, "Three is off air, abort!"

"Screw you, lady!" Rats Seven and Eight called out, their identical American voices strident in opposition. "We're getting' that money, you called abort so it's everyone for themselves." Rat Eight continued.

"Scheiße, everyvone back auff!" Rat Four cursed, carefully ensuring she was out of sight of anything that might spot her. She glanced at Rat One, who had taken up position next to her and received a nod. "Verdammt kinder! Anyvone that vants to get avay, packs are free!"

With that, Rats One, Two, Four, Six and Nine activated the packs on their backs. They were top of the line HenchCo models, which were, in turn, reverse engineered from packs lost by Team Possible in one caper or another. They worked flawlessly and lifted them up and away from the now screaming throng below.

Unfortunately for Rat Six, Shego had spotted him moving and tossed a plasma bolt towards him. She wasn't sure if she'd hit him at first; his stealth suit tried to compensate for the sudden movement, flashing a rainbow of confused, television like snow. But her plasma ball managed to strike his right wing, sending him into an out of control spin right back into the roof he'd tried to vacate.

He let out a brief scream before he struck with vicious force, knocking the wind out of him and bruising almost all of the ribs on the left side of his body. He tried to get up, but three members of the Munich _Polizei_ that Shego had lead to his position were on him before he could do more than raise his head.

Rat Five wasn't given a chance to move, as five undercover _polizei_ stopped him cold. They had tentatively spotted him, and with Wades help, had confirmed he was one of the suspects. Two grabbed him and the other three pulled firearms to cover him. He immediately turned his stealth field off and raised his hands, knowing it was futile – and possibly fatal - to resist.

Rats Seven and Eight had threaded their way from their positions in a parking area just off the street. They relied on their suits stealth capabilities to keep them unseen, not realizing that they had been spotted by a combination of experienced eyes, technology and mystically enhanced ninja training.

In fact, had they not done anything, it had been determined that they'd have been ignored, followed, and taken into custody later. Unfortunately, by acting, they'd set into action a chain of events that forced the hands of the _polizei_, Shego, Team Possible, and yet more people none of them realized were ready to move. The crowd, knowing something was happening, was starting to panic, and blocking off easy access to the _polizei_, while simultaneously spooking some of the horses at the head of the parade.

Luckily, the Clockwork Knight's horse seemed calm and the rider competent as he surged forward in an attempt to put space between himself and the people attempting to grab the chest sitting on the back of his horse's saddle.

Shego and Kim both jumped out into space, the former thief relying on her super power to make the landing on the asphalt below. Kim used her Kimmunicator's grapnel to act as a descender rig slowing her four story fall to a survivable point less than fifteen feet from the rapidly clearing sidewalk below.

"Halt!" a member of the _polizei_ that had a relatively clear path barked to the two moving blurs heading towards the Clockwork Knight. The man had been close to getting past the throng, who had been forced to stop by a group of panicked children that had moved into his path, blocking his escape route.

The officer, not realizing the danger presented to him, was blasted by a discharge similar to a plasma staff. He fell to the ground in a twitching mass, as if struck by a one hundred fifty thousand volt Taser. The other blur stopped, and half a dozen oblong, bright orange spheres were launched into the air with what sounded like the mother of all paintball guns firing.

"Down!" Shego roared, launching four plasma balls at the objects. Each of the spheroids she hit let out a loud, hissing pop and a brilliant flash of orange tinted green plasma flames. The two she was unable to hit exploded with exceedingly lout bangs, and about a dozen bystanders and a few of the _polizei_, as well as Shego and Kim were hit with heavily stinging balls of semi-hard rubber.

Luckily, the command saved the bystanders from being hit in the face or other potentially sensitive spots, as they all ducked and covered their heads as best they could before the detonation. One of the _polizei_ was holding his hand over an eye, and both Kim and Shego were each struck by several of the balls. While the former thief was none the worse for wear, thanks to her suit, the red-head was still wearing civilian clothing and knew she'd have welts all over her back and right arm for the next day or two.

"I've got th-…" the blur that was Rat Eight called as he jumped up and grabbed the chest containing the tap. Unfortunately, the man in the Clockwork Knight's uniform seemed to know how to use it. The blur suddenly became enshrouded with an electrical surge as the Clockwork Knight reached back almost lazily and grasped the thief's arm. Immediately, one hundred and twenty-five thousand volts flashed through the palm, overloading the electronics of the thief's suit.

The suit's stealth system went into fits, flashing in a manner similar to Rat Six's suit before shutting down entirely. At the same time, the suit's thrusters flared once, driving the man across the street and back first into a wall, where he fell in a moaning, shuddering heap.

"Raleigh!" Rat Seven cried. He had been moving up on the Clockwork Knight's other side, and was only a few meters away. In his anger, he launched a sting ball straight at the mounted man; although not enough to harm the suited man, it did have the effect of nearly unseating him from the horse.

"G-get me l-later!" Rat Eight called back, just as the sting ball blew almost straight under the horse. She reared up as dozens of soft plastic balls pelted her hide, her scream of pain and fear cutting through the commotion clearly.

The mare rearing up was an unexpected boon for Rat Seven, who only had to reach out and up a little bit to grab onto the case. As soon as the case was in his hands, he ran the ratcheting straps that would hold it in place on his chest through the case's grab handles, locking it in place.

"Oh, _no_ you don't!" Shego called, jumping towards his position as the man reached up for the control yoke at his shoulders.

"Oh, yes I do!" the man called out, kicking at her as his jets activated, forcing Shego to dodge and miss her grab.

The former thief was about to launch a plasma ball at him when Kim's voice stopped her. "Don't, Shego, his fuel tank might blow up!"

"Dammit!" the other woman growled, dousing her plasma. "How're we going t-urk!" Shego barely managed to keep herself from losing her breath as she found two powerful legs wrapping around her waist and one arm around her shoulders. She also found herself face to chest with a very determined looking Kim Possible, and wanted to curse herself that the first thought across her mind was, _Wow, she's grown, even if just a little…_

"Hold on, Shego!" Kim cried, before her and her passenger felt a violent yank as they were hoisted into the air.

"Princess, what the hell?" Shego barked, but Kim only snickered, honestly quite relieved to find the grapnel hook found purchase on a non-vital part of the escaping thief's rocket pack.

"We're going after him, and he has friends!" Kim called back over the sound of jet exhaust. _Now,_ she thought, looking up the fifteen meters of super strong monofilament line ahead of them, _if the new motor works as advertised, we should be on him within thirty seconds or so…_ She guessed at their direction before calling into her headset, "Wade, we're heading west-northwest, anywhere we can bring him down safely?"

"Um…" Wade said, tapping on his keys like a madman, "There's the _Schloßpark Nymphenburg_, a 200 hectare park about three miles in front of you!"

"I see it!" Kim answered, "Keep me posted for similar spots if this guy changes course, please and than-…"

"KP!" Ron's voice interrupted, "We've got company here, a moving van just tore into the parade route and dropped out a bunch of men. Clockwork and I're gonna deal with the guys here, and his partner's gonna go after you guys to help you out!"

"Got it, Ron!" Kim called, "Shego, Ron's staying behind with the Clockwork Knight to deal with a moving van, and said his partner's comin' after us to help out…"

"One sec, Kimmie…" Shego interrupted, listening to her earbud, before glancing back and down, grimacing at what she saw. "Okay, just got confirmation, and we're gonna have to deal with this jackass soon!" She nodded back, and Kim took a look as well. Two mid sized helicopters were flying over the intersection they'd been at, and looked like trouble.

One, painted pale blue on the bottom quarter and a neutral gray over the rest was an AgustaWestland AW109 that looked to be military surplus. The other was a generically painted Bell 407, and both were climbing to match their current two hundred forty meter altitude and accelerating to catch up.

"They working with you?" Kim asked hopefully.

"No on the Bell!" She pursed her lips and thought, then growled her conclusion at Kim. "Same with the Agusta… There's only a couple EC-135's for overwatch around here…" She snorted and shook her head, "We do have a GSG9 team that took out the other group's sniper, but shooting down a chopper over Munich…"

"Would be five hundred miles of bad road, to quote Ron." Kim agreed. "We need to get closer to this guy, but both of us are slowing the cable's retr-agh!"

The expression was a mix of surprise and pain as the man flying ahead of them suddenly dove. This allowed them to gain ten meters on their quarry as the retraction mechanism was suddenly working in freefall. The force and sudden tension after reaching the end of the line's slack almost ripped Kim's shoulder socket out of joint, but luckily her shoulder held.

Just as fortunately, the two women managed to keep their hold they had on each; otherwise, Shego would have been sent plummeting over one hundred meters to the huge railyard flying past below them. "Alright, this jackass is going to suffer!" Shego snapped as she realized his intention, readying a plasma burst as she saw his intent to scrape them off on the buildings now about one hundred and thirty meters below.

"Shego!" Kim protested, glancing down at the woman clinging onto her like a limpet.

"No worries, Princess!" Shego laughed, "Just gonna scare him into being good!"

With that she launched the plasma, missing the underside of her target by a few centimeters. He jerked up realizing that trying to harm someone that could – and if her reputation was anything to go by, would - destroy him before he got her was a bad idea. Instead, he started twisting, hoping the action would detach, or at least disorient, them.

Unfortunately for him, the Kimmunicator's grapnel had pulled them close enough that Kim was able to grab onto one of his legs after he'd spun only halfway around. Seeing what she was doing, Shego reached out and grabbed the other, her grip quite painful. He immediately stopped his spin, and glanced down.

"Give it up!" Kim hollered, suddenly glad Wade's design allowed the exhaust gasses to blast slightly upwards in case someone had to be dragged behind in a rescue situation. Shego was just glad she was able to get close enough to grab on, and flared her plasma on the leg she was holding. While it wasn't the lowest heat she could manage, since they wanted him to know she was serious, she kept it low enough to avoid any permanent damage. Kim pointed down, continuing, "_Schloßpark Nymphenburg_, right now!"

"And don't try anything stupid!" Shego added, flaring her plasma hot enough to scorch the outer surface of his suit, and let him know she could do much, much worse.

"Okay, okay!" he screamed. He looked back, carefully spinning back upright and slowing as he made his descent, "I can't believe this…"

"Believe it, moron!" Shego griped as they approached the landing point, the man being forced to climb slightly over what looked to be a large house that was white with golden brown stone as trim. She glanced back, seeing the helicopters of their pursuers closing in quickly. Deciding to take the initiative, she tapped Kim and dropped the last four meters to the ground.

Kim glanced up and realized the pack, including the emergency fuel shut off, was essentially identical to Wade's design. Smirking evilly, she reached up and slapped the shut off switch, and then disconnected her grapnel by touching the Kimmunicator's face. She followed Shego perhaps ten feet past the woman's landing point, rolling when she hit the ground so she was out from under the thief before he struck.

The man let out a pained groan, followed by what sounded like the beginning of a long string of curses. That was cut off almost immediately as Shego ran up and touched his forehead, dosing him with what she called knock out plasma. "Shego!" Kim yelled in shock, her eyes wide in concern and even a little fear.

"He'll wake up with a hell of a headache," Shego quipped, smirking at Kim's concerned expression, "But otherwise fine. Better than the blow to the temple you looked about ready to give him, Cupcake!"

Kim frowned, debating whether to argue the point or not, but in the end, just shook her head and let out a humorless chuckle, "Looks like round two's coming up…"

"Yes indeed…" Shego's smirk widened as she cracked her knuckles. She glanced over at Kim, the desire for clarification of an earlier question overwhelming, "And you still haven't answered my question when you grabbed me back there…"

"Oh," Kim muttered, "I honestly thought you were being flippant?" Her questioning tone drew a snicker from Shego, and she blushed at the admittedly ridiculous presumption on her part. "But, well, I thought this guy's buddies would come back, and backup is never a bad thing. With Ron stuck in that building's stairwell…"

"Why didn't he use that monkey mojo and float down?" Shego boggled, one eyebrow raised, the other lowered and twitching slightly, "He used it on my hands…"

"Um, it still comes and goes." Kim admitted with a blush, "Usually only when me, someone he cares about or a lot of people are in danger."

"Oh…" Shego's lips twisted sardonically, "Well, honestly, I was just gonna do the knock out burst…"

"And I would have ended up doin' something stupid to avoid it, like tossing you over the edge with your hands alight." Kim groused, "And then we'd have probably panicked everyone down on the street… Who knows where that would have led?"

"Good point…" Shego chuckled with a slight hint of humor.

"Yeah." Kim agreed. Seeing the choppers slow slightly, as if searching, she glanced over at the now pistachio hued woman, "And since you asked about Ron's MMP, what about your skin? You're darker green than you were five minutes ago…"

Shego glanced over at her, prepared to give her a tongue lashing before the helicopters got there, but saw only honest curiosity in the red-head's eyes. Shaking her head at her own nearly instinctual action, she shrugged, "The more I use the power or the higher the intensity of my power, emotions or both, the darker my skintone gets. If I can avoid it and manage to stay calm, even if I use my power frequently, I tend to bounce between looking like a living honeydew sculpture and a well brewed green tea. If I get really pissed, stressed or some shit, _or_ if I use it a lot while being either way, well…" She waved a hand at her face, shrugging again.

"So that explains why your skin never really got too dark when you were 'Miss Go'…" Kim concluded.

"Oh, please, don't mention that… That…" Shego stopped, shuddering almost theatrically.

"Sickeningly happy ditz?" Kim asked lightly. Shego glanced at her and Kim blushed slightly, "Y'know, I liked you as her at the time, but as Ron said later, it wouldn't have been fair to force you to stay like that… And, well…" Kim paused, then flushed slightly at Shego's raised eyebrow, "I think I prefer you like this…"

"Ironically, Princess," the former thief murmured in a deadpan tone, "As much as I hated being that vacuous goody-goody, you're right about the skin, and that's the _only_ thing I liked about being like that." Seeing Kim's nod, and the consternation, Shego gave Kim an honest smile, "And thanks, Kimmie… I prefer me like this, too!"

"Well, that much nice would've gotten annoying after a whi-…" The red-head stopped and stared aghast as Shego's hands flashed into a roiling fury, "What are you doing? Those chop-…"

"Distraction," Shego smirked through her interruption, "Any halfway competent pilot could avoid 'em, you should know that!

"But what if they're not?" Kim started, staring worriedly at the two helicopters heading to their position with nary a deviance from their flight path.

"Head in the game, Princess!" Shego growled, then sent several plasma balls streaking at the helicopters. The AW109, to their left, had an excellent pilot. She juked hard to her right, straightened and pulled the helicopter into a flare maneuver. They went vertical almost ten meters as she deployed the landing gear, dumping almost all of the forward air speed within a little over seventy meters, before setting down in a harsh, but controlled manner.

The pilot of the Bell 407, however, decided to try and blow past the two women on the ground while moving in a very linear fashion around the plasma balls. He tilted the helicopter hard to the left and forward while yawing counterclockwise to bring the aircraft more in line to the direction he wanted. As soon as the nose began to droop, he increased the pitch of the rotors and power in an effort to gain a bit more forward air speed.

Unfortunately for his plan, his yawing motion brought the tail rotor assembly directly in line with two of Shego's plasma balls. One exploded almost exactly halfway down the tail boom, the other a little further aft. The result was impressive, as the first blast blew over halfway through the tail boom, severing the tail rotor's drive shaft. The other blast was too much for the damaged tail boom to take, and it tore the rest of the tail boom off. Fortunately, they were well past the building, and it fell harmlessly into the water behind them.

With the sudden loss of force against the torque of the main rotor, the pilot's plan was right out the window. The helicopter almost immediately stopped moving counterclockwise; with the tail rotor's force gone, the main fuselage began to spin clockwise, sending the helicopter completely out of control.

The helicopter pilot tried to bring it down, was too slow killing the engine power, so his actions in trying to regain any semblance of control only made things worse. The helicopter spun around its vertical axis four times and somehow managed to completely roll once while dumping almost all of its forward speed. It slammed down violently on its side in the lake behind Kim and Shego.

Somehow, shrapnel from the blades disintegrating didn't hit the red-head, Shego or go flying too far from the lake. Kim found herself torn between the desire to wade into the lake and make sure everyone in Bell was alright, and keeping her attention on the AW109.

That was taken out of her hands as Shego dashed forward, yelling "Cover my ass, Pumpkin!"

Just as Kim turned back to the Bell, she realized the need. Despite the hard landing, everyone seemed to be more or less intact, as all seven members of the team were hale enough to clamber out of the helicopter. They immediately began heading towards the shore of the lake, and were unarmed for the most part, beyond a few stun batons and a stun staff. She dropped into a low mantis stance and called out to them.

"Give up and you won't get hurt!" Kim called as two of them with stun batons rushed towards her, then she stopped and stood from her stance, staring at the men askance as she recognized them. _Oh, great, last time I saw these guys, Ron had hired them to help with missions after getting his Naco check! What next?_ Sighing in resignation, she dropped back into her stance, "What are _you_ guys of all people doing here?"

"Doing the job we were hired to do, ma'am!" the larger of the two men replied in his mater of fact, gravely voice. He and his partner spread apart, as if daring Kim to jump in the water after them, even as the rest of the group took up positions that would back each other up without interfering with each other. "As for stoppin' us, I don't care how good you are, we're not henchmen, we're professional mercs!"

Kim blew out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and you get paid by the hour and you're all well trained former spec-ops…"

"Exactly." The man and his team all stepped up on the shore, and he cracked his knuckles, "I've heard how much trouble ya had with Team Impossible, Kim Possible, I think you'll find us a cut above those three losers!"

"Not if your pilot's any indication of where you guys are at right now!" Kim growled, annoyed with the macho attitude of this group. Then she screwed up her face in confusion, "Wait, weren't you a five man team?"

"Pilot's new, and Six was down with pneumonia last time!" the leader called out, then he and his team swarmed out of the water, attacking in three groups of two. The pilot stayed back, his eyes furtive as if looking for the best opportunity to strike. _Okay, keep his position in mind… Figure out what each group is doing…_

And suddenly, Kim was in the state of synchronicity she always felt in fight or flight situations. Most people, when hit with the fight or flight hormonal release suffered tunnel vision, often combined with gray-outs or even red-outs. Sometimes, their hearing and even sense of touch are muted to the point of uselessness. She was among the few in the world that were the exact opposite.

Kim was different. She felt her eyes relax, and she was able to use almost ninety percent of her visual range, her peripheral vision shrinking to near non-existence, yet hyper aware of any movement within that limited peripheral area…

Sound, while becoming slightly muted, seemed clearer to her, to the point that even the slightest shift of someone's body on grass told her when they were ready to strike…

Like most people, her central nervous system went into a state of controlled hyperactivity and increased her strength dramatically. Where Kim was, again, different was that her sense of balance was improved instead of hindered, and her sensitivity of touch increased.

Her conscious thinking was clear, logical, but at a speed nearing instinctual and her instinctual reactions were even _faster_...

This combination of an almost completely active central nervous system, in addition to such fast reasoned and instinctual brain activity - all acting in near perfect yet dissonant concert - allowed her to perform physical feats at a level very few could better.

This was the reason a girl not even fourteen years old was able to jump through the McHenry laser grid without prior experience. Or give her the ability to stand toe to toe with men literally three times her mass and upwards of five times her strength at the age of fifteen and sixteen. The reason that same girl performed at a level that made trained professionals jealous, or left them desiring to have her on their team.

It was also a reason so few people in the world had ever been a challenge to her in fighting, and one of those people was behind her, dealing with the group from the other helicopter... On _her_ side!

_Right group's a feint, left group's going to circle around my rear, but the _center_ group's the first _real_ attack…_ It wasn't a thought, but an instinctual response, like a person walking throwing their foot out to take the next step.

Most seeing the situation would have concluded the best strategy would be to wait and counterattack. Instead she went directly to the offensive, sending herself into a skipping side kick to the smaller man in the center group, striking his right quadriceps. It was a blow that could have bruised an unprotected muscle into spasm, or broke the knee or femur. The man's uniform protected him from more than a light bruise, however the force of the blow sent his leg to the side, incidentally throwing his punch far off the mark.

Kim ducked under the blow and planted the kicking foot before spinning on that heel. She brought her other leg up in a vicious, whipping arc, striking him just behind the ear, grabbing him even as he began to crumple into unconsciousness. She jumped up from her supporting leg and kicked out with both, shoving him into his partner's oncoming fist and sending both men to the ground into a heap.

She landed in a low crouching Tiger Style stance, and heard a faint buzzing behind her to her left. Immediately ducking aside, she dropped her left hand to the ground into a round off towards the lake. Catching sight of the group that had been to her right, she threw a kick to his wrist and sent his stun baton flying. She continued through the round off, and as soon as her feet struck the ground, she shoved herself forward, driving a vicious knee into his partner's liver.

Then, as the man crumpled back from the blow, she planted the striking leg's foot on his thigh and shoved up, then planted her other foot on his face. The force of the blow broke his nose and sent him into unconsciousness, while she used the force of the kick to fly into a backflip towards his newly disarmed partner.

The man managed to duck the knee heading towards his head and managed to land a glancing elbow in return to Kim's hip. She shrugged off the blow and landed with both feet, then arched back into a short series of backflips parallel to the lake. This had the advantage of getting her out of range of both the pilot and the other two man team, who almost stumbled into the man that had managed to land an elbow against her.

"Two down, one injured, and I'm not even breathing hard yet."

"You're goin' dow-…" the group's leader started, only to find himself the target of one hundred and twenty seven pounds of angry, hormonally charged former cheerleader.

Kim had taken two steps and planted her hands, rolling into a front flip. She landed one foot on his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him, the other landing firmly on his face. His head bounced against a trauma plate in his partner's bullet resistant uniform, and he found himself unconscious even as Kim shoved mightily with her legs.

The shove drove her into a forward somersault that was shoulder height on her target, one of the men in the group that had originally been moving around behind her. She brought a vicious, slightly angled axe kick down on the side of the man's head, and he found himself out of the rest of the fight.

She immediately dropped and swung her leg around in a sweep. The other team had been ready for her prior attack and had swung at the spot they'd expected her to land. They had not expected that Kim would already be starting to duck, and were thus not ready to dodge the sweep. The red-head stood as they fell, and winced slightly in sympathy as the man to her left was struck by the other man's stun baton. She swiftly jumped forward and down, driving an iron hard fist into the conscious man's temple, knocking him out cold.

"I thought you guys were professionals?" she barked as she glanced about her, looking for the pilot.

Not seeing him, she became cautious, almost paranoid for a moment. That near paranoia was rewarded when, a moment later, she heard the soft impact of a solid object in the grass behind her. She immediately lunged forward and planted her hands, tucking into a tight rolling front flip just as a flashbang went off behind her. Since she was facing away, she didn't suffer the blinding effects of the device, and while her ears were left ringing slightly her breath was only slightly shortened, and was otherwise unaffected.

Growling a she came up, she spotted the pilot as he stuck his head up over the edge of the manmade lake, a flasbang in hand and prepared for throwing. Kim's reaction was faster than his as she skipped and dropped low into a sweeping kick, catching him in the side of the head even as he tried to dodge out of the way. The man was knocked senseless by the blow, and he dropped the flashbang into the water at his feet.

Seeing this, Kim grabbed him and dragged him from the water a few instants before the flashbang went off. Getting him on the shore, she delivered a sharp elbow to his chin. The blow sent him to the same unconscious state as his partners, and Kim stood to look in Shego's direction, wondering how Ron was doing back at the parade…

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Clockwork and I're gonna deal with the guys here, and his partner's gonna go after you guys to help you out!" Ron called to KP, listening to her answer before turning towards the suited man as he got off of his horse. "Hey, Clockwork, are these guys yours?"

"Nope!" the man's amplified, electronically deepened voice replied in chuckling, unaccented English, making Ron feel inordinately relieved, "I think we'll find out who they are in a second, though…" The man handed his horse's reins to a mounted _polizei_ officer, who took the horse off well to the side and away from the apparent chosen battlefield. He then turned his attention to the moving van as over three dozen men piled out of the back, each armed with what looked like one of Professor Dementor's stun staves.

"Seems like it!" Ron grimaced. Rufus, who had run up to his shoulder looked at the Clockwork Knight and shrugged, and the suited man saluted the two of them.

"Interesting to be working _with_ you, Stoppable!" he said enigmatically, "I just hope you're sti-…"

"Nobody move!" a screaming, electronically amplified voice from within the truck interrupted, before continuing in grammatically clumsy German, "_Nein Bewegung!_" The man in the Clockwork Knight's armor smiled devilishly as he noticed three groups of men and women in German and United States Army dress uniforms sneaking up on the larger of the two groups of men that had piled out of the moving van.

"You gentlemen _do_ realize that you're surrounded by at least four dozen _armed polizei_, right?" the Clockwork Knight quipped in English, laughter dancing at the edge of his voice, "Not to mention that there's a GSG9 squad, and one of Bavaria's SEK teams as well as a couple we borrowed from elsewhere on their way to this area…"

"It matters not!" the voice roared. Then the owner of that voice began to step forward, the entire truck rocking with its steps. "We are here for the tap… We are not convinced you people would be _stupid_ enough to leave such an item out in plain view, so tell us where it is really hidden!"

"If that's what you thought, then you're gonna be disappointed!" the Clockwork Knight replied. He was about to continue, but then he saw movement in the back of the moving van's cargo box, and paused. The crowds, who had already moved back at the appearance of the first team of high tech thieves, helicopters and now a moving van crashing the parade, stepped back further as a massive suit of technologically advanced looking armor stepped out of the rear.

"Oh, _interesting_!" the Clockwork Knight declared honestly, "A Japanese Self Defense Force Type 104, Mobile Self Contained Armor Suit, Powered. Is that a Mark Eight?"

"Mark Eight, definitely. But if I remember right, only the second service upgrade, if the rust is any indication?" Ron queried as he looked over what should have been a gleaming technological wonder. The white paint was faded and chipped in many areas, and from the joints, the sectional breaks in the main armor and the chips, deep brown rust was clearly visible where water had regularly trailed down the powered armor.

"Got it in one!" Wade agreed wanly when Ron glanced at his Kimmunicator, shaking his head in despair at the uncared for machine.

Ron, however, pumped an upturned fist low near his hip, "Boyah nerd knowledge!"

"Do not discount me so easily!" the man hollered indignantly, "I am more than a match for the joke replacing the Clockwork Knight!"

"What about the Clockwork Knight and Ron stoppable?" the Clockwork Knight countered, tone making his annoyance at the comment obvious, "Y'know, the man that ended the alien invasion?"

"Hey, you know my name!" Ron cried, earning an indulgent laugh from the crowd, despite the potential danger of the situation.

"I'm not a ten foot tall, unarmed alien!" the man hollered, interrupting anything the Clockwork Knight might have been about to say. "Observe…" On the left, top side of the rear torso, a panel popped open, showing a series of sixteen small missiles with complex looking seekers at the tip of the warhead. What could be seen of the rest of the warhead was standard Army style olive drab green, but the body below the seeker head was banded with brown and pastel green, and had several large bore holes in it.

"Type 227 flashbang guided missiles!" the Clockwork Knight shouted in warning at Ron, just as the small missiles launched at both of them. The missiles were much slower than most people would have expected, and were even slow compared to the rockets the supervillain Gemini launched from his hand. Where they made up for that was the fact that they were still fast enough that an impact would hurt an unarmored person even without a payload. Considering the design of the warhead, the results would be disorienting at the best.

The Clockwork Knight was unconcerned and stood his ground, knowing the damage taking capabilities of his suit. His reaction seemed to work for the best, as the eight missiles acquired their target and homed in on him, then split in an octagonal pattern around him. The blasts were perfectly synchronized, and while they pushed him around a bit, the Clockwork Knight was none the worse for wear.

"And your point is?" the Clockwork Knight chuckled. Cocking his head almost arrogantly, he wiped at some imagined smudge on his armor's spaulder and advanced on the powered armor with a confident swagger.

Ron had stood his ground for a moment, taking in as much of the scene as he could. He saw perhaps two dozen soldiers along with a few _polizei_, getting ready to jump the larger group, but holding back due to the angry buzzing from the ends of their staves. The larger group was looking around as if daring anyone to attack. Ron knew he had to do something about it, and he almost smiled as the idea struck him.

_One distraction, comin' up, boys!_ he mentally called to the men, and then let out a girlish scream of panic and dashed straight towards the powered armor. After a couple steps, he turned sharply to his right, drawing all eight of the missiles after him. He called out a quick, "Sorry!" as he dashed in front of the Clockwork Knight, who paused and let Ron and the eight missiles trailing him to pass unmolested.

"Ron!" Wade's voice called from his Bluetooth headset as the blond went through a complex evasion scheme, "These things are too smart for that and have almost forty seconds of chase time!"

"Thanks! No worries, Wade, the Ron-Man's got this!" Ron shouted in reply, reversing course and ducking under the advancing missiles. The tactic proved just how advanced the missiles were, as instead of turning their noses towards the street, they curled horizontally and vertically, and were right back on his trail. Ron felt a brief surge of panic, glancing around him as he pushed himself back to full speed. When he spotted the smaller group of men at the rear of the cargo van, he smiled evilly as a deviously perfect idea struck him.

The Clockwork knight saw what he was planning the second he ducked under the missiles and headed towards the larger of the two groups of thieves. "The large group's bein' handled!" he called to Ron, who gave a seemingly knowing nod in return, dodging from the larger group towards the front of the cargo van.

"What are you talk-…" the man in the rusty powered armor suited began, only to be startled into silence as the Clockwork Knight dashed forwards and shoved him back into the truck's box.

"How's about you concentrate on me, eh?" the man in the smaller suit boomed as he laid into the heavy armor, his strikes echoing out of the back of the moving van.

Ron chuckled lightly, then resumed his near panicked screeches, which had the effect of distracting the larger group of apparent thieves from the soldiers and polizei behind them. "Get 'em off, get 'em off, get 'em off!" he shrieked to make sure he had their attention as he leapt towards the front of the flat nosed cargo van.

As he'd dashed along just out of their reach, almost half of the larger henchmen group made a grab for him. Then they jumped back, realizing they were in the paths of the missiles their boss had unleashed. Unfortunately for them, they ran into their slower fellows, who had reacted too slowly to Ron's running path and had jumped too late to try for an intercept. They all got tangled up with each other, which was just what the soldiers and _polizei_ were waiting for. The disparate group of men and women howled as they surged forward, wading into the ranks of the thoroughly distracted henchmen.

Ron's leap ended with his foot in the reinforced foot hold below the big Mercedes cargo van's grill. Ron continued up, shoving with all his might and managing to get a solid grip on the external sun visor. With a worried grunt, he pulled himself up to the top of the van's cab with a hurried scramble. "Boyah!" he crowed as two of the missiles didn't make it up and over the cab, one expending its payload against the glass and the other smashing through the windscreen to its ultimate deflagration against the inner lining of the cab's roof.

He noticed that four of the smaller group were starting to fire into the crowd of their fellows and the soldiers, four of their fellows were firing into the cargo van's box, and the remaining three were firing at _polizei_ in the crowd. Their shots were rather inaccurate, and of the twenty shots they'd fired away from the cargo van, they'd only hit one _polizei_, two soldiers, six civilians and four of their own number. The remainder had struck randomly against the ground, buildings or had shot upwards to dissipate in the air.

Ron managed to take all that in with a sweeping glance as he ran for the back of the box. "I don't think so!" he growled, dropping down into the main body of the henchmen. The henchmen stopped shooting for a moment, staring askance at the blond teen in their midst.

"Oh, hi, guys!" Ron quipped, before jumping forward and apparently tripping over one of the men's feet. He shoved off of the man, and the man tangled himself up with four of his fellows, who became further tangled up the rest. The apparent random trip was turned into a tucking roll which he seemed to then overcorrect for. He was in a standing position for barely a blink of an eye before dropping forwards onto his face, incidentally covering his head with his hands and his ears with his forearms. He lay there and let out a long, forceful exhale as if he'd just had the wind knocked out of him, his still opened mouth seeming to confirm the appearance.

Then the missiles roared down into the throng behind him. Two of them were still tracking him, but had gotten confused by the press of bodies, and crashed into the pavement between Ron and the group. The other four went straight into the ground around the other men, igniting their stunning charge.

The bright light from the charge blinded all of them, and the intense impact of the charge stunned seven of the eleven. Those men shook it off and took aim as Ron rolled onto his back, a little stunned despite his precautions yet better off than most of the men behind him. The four still standing found themselves struck by over one hundred and thirty kilograms of flying superhero as the Clockwork Knight burst out of the cargo van's box back first.

Two of the men were struck hard enough to be knocked quite unconscious. The other two were trapped under the man, and tried to get up. The Clockwork Knight appeared to disagree with them, as he reached out with his shock gloves and grasped their arms, whispering the activation code for the gloves. The two men, already disoriented, swiftly joined their fellows in unconsciousness with subdued, chattering bellows of alarm.

"You handle these guys, Clockwork!" Ron yelled as he jumped up and towards the powered armor tearing its way from the box, Rufus nodding in emphatic agreement as he jumped up to Ron's shoulder, "I got backup for this!"

With that, Ron kipped up to his feet and dashed at the powered armor. The man had been expecting the Clockwork Knight, and paused for an instant too long. With a long, braying, monkey like shriek, Ron dropped to all fours and ran like his power's namesake. The man in the powered armor turned a forearm towards him, the end glowing like the stun staves of his men, and Ron dodged at the last second before he fired.

His hands and feet glowing for a brief moment, Ron launched himself into the side of the cargo van's box, the already damaged side indenting a bit as he struck. He then jumped off hard, managing to land on the shoulders of the powered armor. "Go, Rufus!" he barked, pointing at the still open missile hatch.

Rufus smiled hugely at the prospect of doing some damage to the armor, and yelled out a little "Booya!" as he dropped down into the bowels of the machine. _Not like cutout drawings online!_ he thought as he surveyed the interior of the missile pod. _With all the rust and only having the second service upgrade, it must be secondhand._ His conclusion was well founded, as the normal suit contained a positive pressure, nuclear, biological and chemical warfare defense system for the pilot's safety. This was far from intact as he quickly found a few small crevices to make his way into the pilot's compartment.

Snickering evilly, Rufus began to scurry as quietly as he could around the interior, looking for either the main control computer or the neural and physical interface system. Disabling the former would stop the machine entirely, and disabling the system that combined neural prompts and physical queues from the pilot's movements would be almost as good. _Considering the shape the suit is in, maybe the latter would be better?_ Rufus contemplated. Glancing around, he cried triumphantly, "Hnk, th'r' we go!"

Outside, Ron was dealing with five tons of armor piloted by a man filled to the brim with annoyance, "You won't stop me, Stoppable!"

"Hey, you got my name right, too!" he crowed, dodging away from a punch that would've turned him to paste with a very monkey like roll. He'd decided to distract the man from any chance of spotting Rufus, but it wouldn't be a good idea to get hurt while doing it, so he figured he'd be better off somewhere other than the ground.

As the man began pulling the armor's arm up, he scrambled up the arm, disconnecting both the power linkage to the stun cannon and the wiring to the targeting system in the helmet of the armor, effectively blinding the man's weapons systems. "But with a name like Stoppable, wha'd'ya think it's my job to do?"

"You little worm!" the pilot growled as he swung both arms up towards Ron's position, "I'm going t-eeeyyyaaaghhh!"

The arms halted halfway to him, however. Then the powered armor started twitching in epileptic fashion, forcing Ron to jump into a controlled fall in front of the machine. Just as he leapt off, Rufus hit the button opening the cockpit, which forced the machine to ignore commands from the control system and locked it in its boarding stance. The arms dropped as the legs shifted into a wide, low stance as the front of the armor opened like a clamshell. What was revealed was a scarecrow thin man with gray hair and a huge nose, wearing a tweed jacket and slacks. He was still strapped into the pilot's seat but was twitching, the neural interface electrode ring in his hands twisted into uselessness in his hands.

"Booya!" Rufus and Ron crowed, the naked mole rat holding a fisted paw up for a fist pound. Ron obliged, and they waved their fingers at each other as they pulled their hands apart, earning a roar of applause from the crowd. Rufus jumped up to Ron's shoulder, bowing to the crowd, earning a round of laughter for his effort.

"Piece of cake!" the Clockwork Knight called out, wiping his hands as he stood atop the men that he had taken down, "Awesome job, Stoppable!"

"You too, Clockwork!" Ron agreed, then he and Rufus offered pair of fists for a pound, which the armored man returned, including the finger waggling. Ron glanced to his left as he heard the macho growling and shouts of elation from the soldiers, and smiled at them, calling out in German, "And you guys were the _real_ heroes here!"

The crowd that could hear his declaration paused in their adulation, blinking in surprise at him. The Clockwork Knight saw their reaction, and had an idea what Ron was up to, so he chimed in with slightly clumsy but serviceable German of his own, "Indeed, if you hadn't kept those guys off our backs, we'd have been in trouble!"

"Booyah!" one of the German men roared, holding a fist up in the air as he did so.

The rest of his German comrades and the Americans all called back with a "Booyah!" of their own.

"Tankers, they're nuts!" the Clockwork Knight whispered to Ron, who kind of agreed as the American soldiers, apparently tank crewmen, began a little ceremony of their own.

"Nineteen!" one of the higher ranking Americans, an attractive, dark skinned woman wearing captain's bars, called out.

"Kilo!" the rest of the American's answered, then all of them roared, "No fear, hooah!"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, nuts!" Rufus smiled at the Clockwork Knight, then quirked his head to the side, his little ears working. "Copt'r!"

"Don' worry, li'l guy!" the Clockwork Knight chuckled, "That's my partner _Diebfluch_, Shego, Kim Possible…" He pointed out the helicopter coming in painted in the Bavarian State Police colors.

Ron immediately spotted Kim and Shego as the former opened the side hatch. They were both holding safety straps in one hand, and the the chest that had been on the back of the Clockwork Knight's horse in the other, huge smiles on their face. There was also a woman standing behind them, dressed in a maroon and black suit that looked like a cross between Shego's new suit and the Clockwork Knight's armor.

"Oh, good!" Ron sighed in immense relief, "I'm ready to get the parade over with to start in on some food and drink!"

"Yup, yup!" Rufus agreed, rubbing his belly as Kim and Shego dropped the two meters from the chopper to the street, to more raucous cheers of the crowd. The Clockwork Knight's partner followed right after them, landing behind them, then took the lead as they walked up to where the two men stood.

"This is badical!" Ron barked happily, then fell silent with a considering expression noticed Shego's gaze following the woman leading her and Kim. It seemed that the former thief's gaze didn't hit the woman until she'd cocked her head at her partner and started swaying her hips ever so slightly.

Ron's eyebrows shot up as Shego leaned over to whisper something to Kim, who blushed brightly and gave her a stifling look. The former thief tilted her head in a questioning manner, and Kim rolled her eyes, nodding and muttering something that made Shego laugh, before they started forward to present the Clockwork Knight with the chest…

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Shego dashed towards the landing AW109, confusion crossing her face as the apparent mercenary group piled out of the helicopter. She wasn't sure what brought her up short of them, but the manner of their egress was off from most mercenary teams she'd seen, even HenchCo's most advanced tactical henches. Despite this, the maneuvers were still quite familiar.

It wasn't that they looked unprofessional, for the most part. In fact, except for the apparent extra body clumsily jumping out of the co-pilot's seat, the seven man team looked to be consummate professionals. Their leader, a woman from the voice, called out orders and the rest filed out in proper covering fashion, their weapons moving across the other with the little hump that would take their line of fire over their comrade, even registering their trigger fingers above their firearm's trigger.

The problem was that the apparent squad leader didn't seem to be the one truly in charge. The idiot bringing up the rear, calling out in an electronically disguised voice, ordered three of the squad to separate and go after the box. They glanced at their team leader, who shrugged and nodded. "Ah, ah, I don't think so!" Shego barked in German, lighting up her hands and tossing a low power plasma ball to her right, intercepting them and drawing all of their attention back to her.

The moves were elucidating, as the group disengaged with rolling dives that brought them up to their knees, their weapons trained right on her. _Hell, they look more professional than most mercenary teams. They could be recent soldiers, or former SWAT or equivalent paramilitary…_ Then again, the familiarity struck her. _Oh, great, I watched these guys training the other day!_

Shego found herself looking down the barrel of… She almost laughed as she realized the weapon was not a traditional firearm, but a 'stun ball rifle'. It was developed soon after Drakken won his Nobel for helping save the world. He'd approached the former Professor Dementor with a design he and Wade had cooked up, and made an agreement with DeMenz Gruppe GmbH's defense contracting company to make the weapon for police and military peacekeeping purposes.

It fired a less powerful version of the same plasma rounds Drakken's henchmen used to use in their staves, designed to deliver the knockout power of a strong Taser. It also had a range of about thirty meters, and Shego knew she was well within that range. _And the only people that should have it currently are the GSG9, Munich SEK forces, and a couple of French GIPN teams…_

_I wanted to fight, too, dammit!_ she groused to herself as she heard Kim finish her fight. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the men and women moving into a rough semi-circle around her. _And they're even positioned so they don't hit each other if they have to fire. Lovely. Guess I'd better nip this in the bud…_

She opened her mouth to speak, and smirked when she heard Kim call out, "Hey, Shego, I got this batch of thieves taken care of, what's takin' so long over there?"

"One moment, Possible!" she called back in English, smirking at the head of the team in front of her flinched upon hearing Kim speak, as well as Shego's reply.

"Is that really Kim Possible?" one of the women asked, speaking German, and the team leader stood up from her combat stance slightly, her body language confused.

"It's most likely someone else!" the man in charge bellowed, pointing at Kim. He raised his voice and spoke in accented English, "I am sure zince Zhego is known to die undervorlt, szhe coult haff hiret that voman Camille Leon to impersonate her!"

"What?" Kim squawked indignantly, and Shego glanced back to see Kim ball up her fists in rage at the implication.

"Good job, Poindexter…" Shego chuckled in German, "You just pissed off _the_ Kim Possible at the wrong time of the month…" She switched back to English and called out to Kim, who she knew was about to dash forward to join in the fray, "Keep a watch on the chest, Kimmie! Our backup'll be here any moment!"

Shego turned back when Kim reluctantly nodded in agreement, only to growl in annoyance when the man that was ultimately in charge spoke again, his voice grating in its officious tone, "We have word of your involvement, Shego!"

Several members of the squad shifted uncertainly, and Shego glanced up and back. She saw the EC-135 that _Diebfluch_ was supposed to be aboard about five hundred meters out. _She'll be here shortly, might as well use it…_ To the men and women of the squad, she smirked darkly, "Oh, and why is _Diebfluch_ coming here to help me out if I'm the bad guy, hmmm?"

"What?" the man cried out in protest, looking around in panic, "It has to be a decoy! Take her down and the false Possible, and get the box to the safe location, now!"

"But, Sir, if she's telling the trut-…" the woman in the lead said firmly, only to be interrupted by the man in charge.

"_Diebfluch_ is working with not one, but _two_ former villains, and you have your orders!" he screamed as he took a few steps back, and Shego could almost picture spittle coating the inside of his heavy tactical helmet's faceshield, "Follow them, or I'll make sure you can _never_ get another job anywhere in the European Union!"

Shego watched with unconcealed disgust at the man's electronically disguised bellowing. The normal leader seemed to hesitate, as did her team. Shego snarled as the man reached towards the back of his hip, jumping up and over two of the squad with a standing front flip. Landing in front of the man, she spun around him, her right hand grabbing his wrist and slipping it around to the middle of his back and ignited plasma from her left hand, holding it in front of his face.

"This is set to low, only about 42 degrees C…" Shego growled in a whisper to the man, "But it can get a _lot_ hotter…" She glanced at the rest of the team, smirking, "Now, we're gonna sit here, wait for _Diebfluch_ to get here with Police Chief Schmidbauer, okay?"

"What?" the man Shego was holding bellowed, but a sharp twist of his right wrist brought a whine from his lips.

"The Munich Police Chief is on his way?" the woman that was now apparently in charge asked in consternation, and she looked around at her fellows in confusion, "We were told he requested us, and wanted us to wait unless something happened, then take the chest over to a safe place…"

"Oh?" Shego asked, finally realizing she still hadn't seen the man's face, "If you're actually cops, why don't you get on the general channel and ask for orders, then?"

After a quick conference, the woman's eyes grew wide, and Shego chuckled mirthlessly as the Federal Police liaison came on the line and ripped the woman up one side and down the other. She nodded and looked at Shego, "Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry for the mistake. You heard our orders?"

"Yes…" Shego responded, glancing over at Kim, she called out in English, "Hey, Princess! These are the good guys, they're gonna help us secure the chest if you wanna bring it on over?"

"You sure?" Kim called back, nervous energy making her bounce on the balls of her feet as she glanced around at the unconscious men scattered about her, "Any of them going to guard these goons?"

Shego glanced at the leader of the SEK squad around her, who nodded and dispatched four of her men to cover the ones Kim had taken out, and asked pardon for the man chewing her out to order two men to take the prisoner off of Shego's hands. She then signaled the helicopter pilot to shut the engines down and returned to what she seemed to think was an appropriate ass chewing.

Shego glanced over towards Kim as two of them men cuffed the prisoner and began reading him his rights, and realized red-head was already jogging over. She was about to speak to the heroine when the woman in charge of the SEK squad was finally allowed to speak. The words that came from her mouth shocked Shego, and seemed to send a firestorm throughout the command structure, if the chatter following her pronouncement were any indication, "I'm sorry, sir, but Gerhard Schulz was in charge here is the one that ordered us on this operation…"

"Mr. Stuffed Suit?" Shego asked as Kim finished her jog over, dropping the chest to the ground. Kim smiled brightly at Shego as she unmasked the man she was holding, revealing a balding, pasty faced man who looked like he'd rather be behind a desk than out in the field. His face quickly reddened at Shego's words, and was about to yell at her when a green and white EC-135 belonging to the Bavarian State Police came in for a landing between the Aw-109 and the lake.

Two figures jumped out before the helicopter had a chance to fully settle down, and hurried over to the group huddled around the chest. One looked to be a woman dressed in armor similar to the Clockwork Knight, the other was a man in a police dress uniform, and he wore a look of distinct displeasure at the situation. "Good work, Shego, Miss Possible!" the armored figure called out, waving at them.

"Hey there, _Diebfluch_!" Shego called back in German, leaving an annoyed Kim struggling to keep up. The older woman waved at the armored woman, and gave a surprisingly respectful nod to the older man, "Police Chief Schmidbauer."

"You'll all pay for this!" Gerhard screamed, "I know this is a plot you're all invol-…"

"Has Mr. Schulz been given his rights?" the Chief asked, cutting the blustering Gerhard off in mid word. Receiving affirmative nods from the two men holding him, he glanced at Shego, Kim and _Diebfluch_, with a slight smile, "If you three would be so kind as to return the chest to the parade, we have a schedule to keep."

"Yes, Sir!" _Diebfluch_ replied, then turned towards Kim and Shego, speaking in Englihs, "Ladies?"

"Lead the way, Fannie…" Shego chuckled, reaching down to grab one side of the case.

Kim shrugged and grabbed the other, and as they moved towards the EC-135, she leaned in and whispered across to the former thief, a beaming smile still on her face, "That was a ferociously cool way to handle that, Shego!"

Shego almost dropped her end of the chest with a combination of surprise and sudden laughter at Kim's declaration. Glancing over at the red-head after calming herself a bit, she let her smile fall into her trademark smirk, "What can I say, Princess? I'm a badass."

"That just so happens to know when not to go postal on someone?" Kim snipped slightly, her smile making it obvious the remark was self directed.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Pumpkin." Shego shrugged with the shoulder opposite the arm holding the chest, "So don't worry 'bout it, 'kay?"

"Hey, Shego?" Kim asked after a moment, waiting until the pistachio hued woman glanced back at her, "Thanks for… Well, for not overreacting like I did back on that building. I was an idiot…"

"Hey, your doofus helped out back there, so it's all good, right?" Kim nodded in a strangely noncommittal way and Shego looked back towards the helicopter as _Diebfluch_ was just boarding. _Well, might as well take her mind off of the li'l spat we had…_ she reflected, _And have a little fun at Kimmie's expense!_ Smirking, she sighed wistfully as the maroon suited woman pulled herself into the helicopter, "And, damn, I wish she was single…"

"Really?" Kim asked, her voice only slightly strained by the surprise that was in her eyes, "I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I guess with all the hunky guys I saw you with and then dating Drakken, I thought you were straight!"

"Princess, I'm about as straight as the Snake River..." Shego laughed, earning a light blush from the red-head. The former thief shrugged expansively, "I mean, I hooked Dr. D. up with one of my exes!" Shego was looking out of the window, and so missed the quickly smothered shock on Kim's face before she looked back at the red-head.

"I see…" Kim said in a lame retort as Shego cocked her head questioningly.

"Well…" Shego looked as if she were about to ask Kim something, then shrugged, returning to her prior line of thought, "Anyway, I never really had a chance for much of that kind of play as a villain, since a good majority of the women in villainy just weren't my taste, and heroines tend to avoid relationships with villains."

"Oh…" Kim said, nodding in at least partial understanding, "I guess I can see that."

"But that's beside the point," Shego continued, nodding back at Diebfluch, "_My_ point is that she is _sexy_ under that armor. Hell, her _body's_ hot _in_ the armor!"

"She's certainly fit…" Kim agreed easily, giving the armored woman a once over that drew a surprised eye from Shego.

"That she is…" Shego finally said to fill the growing silence, leaving the potential opening be for the moment, "And quite attractive out of the suit. Falsetto's one lucky SOB…"

"Wait…" Kim said, actually stopping for a moment as she narrowed her eyes in confusion at Shego, "She's dating Falsetto Jones?"

"Yep!" Shego groused, smirking at Kim's confused expression, "He never did time for that diamond caper of his you busted. Hell, from what he said, you guys just returning the diamond and not turning him in convinced him to use his money to try and do right in the world! Then when the Lorwardians tried their invasion, he was perfectly placed to get some damn good investments going. He's working with something like twenty reconstruction companies, including DeMenz Gruppe, Hausmann International and Triple-S…"

"Wow…" Kim blinked, smiling slightly, "Glad to hear it. He was probably one of the more potentially dangerous villains Ron and I faced, as far as death traps and the like were concerned."

"Not surprised!" _Diebfluch_ called out to them, having caught the conversation after Kim's startled question about her boyfriend. She reached down for the chest and they handed it up to her, where she secured it. After the other two women boarded, she offered each a headset, continuing after they'd donned them, "He used to be a tank commander, and then Special Forces for the US Army. We were dating once before, but on a break because of our personalities when he introduced me to Friedrich DeMenz…"

"The Clockwork Knight, right?" Kim pondered aloud, and the maroon suited woman nodded, "My condolences for your loss…"

"Thank you…" _Diebfluch_ said softly, removing her helmet for the ride back. She reached up and ran her fingers through the hair not confined by her suit's own headset, then continued after a sigh, "And he worked with both of us as a US Army and NATO liaison before the Cat Hatter got under his skin."

"Oh, I never heard that part of it…" Shego murmured in a drawn out fashion, reaching out for a strap as they reached flight altitude and turned back towards where the parade had been halted, "Cat Hatter, huh? No wonder he was so good…"

"Unfortunately, yes…" _Diebfluch_ shrugged uncomfortably, "We arrested them both on their last heist together. Catty had cancer, and died in the hospital, leaving Falsie quite, erm… Lost, I think is the word I'm looking for? They'd become quite close, since Falsie never had a father, so Freidrich and I pled on his behalf. He assured us we'd never see him again in Germany to steal something, and that was good enough for the judge, somehow."

"Stranger things have happened," Shego nodded sagely, "I mean, Drakken and I got a pardon and expungement for our past crimes!"

"Indeed." Diebfluch smiled slightly. She pondered something for a moment, then continued with another sigh, "But Falsie… Even as a criminal, he was always a good friend, even if we did drop out of contact after we arrested him… And he and my Friedrich loved each other like brothers… Now, though, I think we've both changed enough, that we're going to be together for a long time."

"Unfortunately for some of us, Fannie…" Shego groused good naturedly, earning a raspberry from the older woman.

"Fannie?" Kim screwed her lips and eyebrows together in confusion.

"I'll explain when we're off the chopper, Princess…" Shego said with a wink, "After that you'll understand why I call her Fannie McBoobs…"

"Shego!" Kim cried in embarrassment, covering her face with her hands and muffling her voice as she continued, "Do you nickname everyone like that?"

"I think she does…" Diebfluch chuckled, drawing Kim from behind her hands. "Although she would probably change mine if Falsetto didn't like it… After all, it's accurate!" To accentuate her point, she shoved her chest forward proudly, winking at an openly appreciative Shego and a seemingly mortified Kim, "I'm thirty-seven, no sag, all natural, and they're actually close to this big even in civilian clothing!"

"No offense," Kim said after taking a few seconds to assure herself she could speak with a level, unembarrassed voice, "But as much as I'd like a little more size, I think that'd be too much for my style of superhero work!"

"Oh, well, possibly…" the older woman raised an eyebrow, "These do get in the way in cramped spaces…"

"Don't complain too much, Princess!" Shego chuckled, "I was smaller than you 'til I was sixteen, and used to bitch more than you do…" She gestured at herself, a self-deprecating smirk on her face, "And _then_ I got _these_, and these are bad enough!"

Kim smirked at Shego, and was about to retort when Diebfluch interrupted her train of thought, "So, did Shego ever give you one of those names, Miss Possible?"

"Kim, please" the red-head smiled and reached her hand out, hoping to avoid the question entirely.

"Helga Lange" Diebfluch smiled, and dashed Kim's hopes as she continued with an evil smirk, "And I do want to know if I'm the lucky one, or just one of many girls Shego's nicknamed like that!"

"Well, I don't think so?" She hurriedly glanced at Shego and shook her head, "I don't think I want one if you haven't, either!"

"Sorry, Princess," Shego gave a Cheshire Cat like smile, "But Cupcake fits you perfectly, I think…"

"Wha-…" Kim started, boggling at the former thief, "How?"

"Well…" Shego's face shifted into a faux innocent expression, "Cupcakes are sweet and delicious like regular cakes, just smaller!"

"Oh, my _God_!" Kim objected with a strangled shriek of humiliation, a blush quickly spreading from her face, down her neck, and most of the way down her arms as both of the older women in the helicopter began laughing at her distress, "Shego!"

"Well, Princess…" Shego choked out between breaths, "Be careful what you ask for!"

"You're both awful!" Kim pouted, before joining in with laughter of her own, feeling that she could come to like Helga easily. She glanced out the window and saw Ron standing next to the Clockwork Knight, both of them next to a big suit of powered armor, and a huge grin split her face.

Yes, she was sure she liked Helga. And _I like Shego,_ she admitted to herself after a moment of contemplation, _Even with the sharp_ _edges, sarcastic humor and the teasing…_ In fact, she had a strong feeling she could come to like this Shego, the real Shego, more than she had ever considered liking the brain switched version she knew as Miss Go...

**Author's Notes**

Well, well, well… Turns out that Shego's not quite the bad guy I'm sure it seemed, huh? Then again, she's not exactly the saccharine Miss Go by a _long_ shot… And yes, despite not getting' down and dirty with the fighting, I like to think that she'd be more than willing to use her brain as much as her fists.

I do hope that the action was worth the size of the chapter, and that it was readable. One of my biggest challenges with this chapter - as I mentioned in the forward – was to decide if I should present the chapter at full size or break it up. When I decided to go for the full size chapter, it took a bit longer than intended to write out, mostly due to keeping the flow smooth and trying not to make any one person seem to be more, or less, than what they are.

As always, thanks to Neo for the beta, and thank all of you readers for reading! I hope you've liked it to date, and that you'll continue to like it. Do let me know, one way or the other… ^_^

Remember, there's a lot of fics out there to enjoy, so keep up the reading, everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

**Autohr's Forward**

Pesterfield, thanks, as always, for the post-upload beta, and I still hope you're enjoying it despite the grammar flub ups!

Pavelius, glad you're liking it, and I hope I can keep things interesting and accurate for you, since I'm not someone who actually lives in Germany like you seem to be. ^_^;;

ShadowCub, I'm glad to see ya still reading, and I hope you're enjoying it!

Extra: thanks for finding a couple things I thought I'd caught, Pesterfield; this was a recovery document, since my computer tried to die on my earlier today... ^_^;;

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"You know what?" Kim said in a subdued manner as she looked around the huge _Schottenhamel Festhalle_, much as she had been for the prior forty-five minutes. The place was filled to capacity, which meant that there were roughly six thousand people sitting within the temporary wooden structure. It was a riot of color from all the different clothing. Nearly everything you could imagine was there: traditional _lederhosen_ and _dirndl_, regular clothing like jeans and tee-shirts or clothing like Ron and Kim were wearing, various political suits and corporate power suits, and even some things that wouldn't look out of place at a dance club.

Bright sunlight streamed through the acrylic roof, shining almost blindingly off of the white roof. Even with the expanse of clear acrylic, there was need of artificial light, and that was supplied in plenty. Several lights, made up of large rings with the lights proper hanging from them, hung down the center line of the roof, with a massive version of the rings in the center of the huge building. Each one of the hanging lights had a pine wreath adorning the support ring.

There were dozens more large pendant lights hanging between the building's walls and the central string of lights, and each of these lights had a wreath several centimeters above the light proper as well. Across the open ceiling expanse hung huge pine garlands, the deep forest green of the spruce drawing the off white of the longer walls together with the dark browns and natural pine coloration of the shorter walls and the nearly square tables.

All in all, Kim was impressed. She knew part of that was the comedown from the earlier fight's adrenaline rush, and she was fine with it. She wore a slightly vacant, distracted smile on her face, looking almost stoned with the natural cocktail slowly seeping out of her system. She watched waitresses running around like harried hens, people giving orders for food and beer, and the mere couple hundred people that had been served already drinking and eating heartily. Her smile and focus solidified slightly as she noticed a trio of waitresses approaching their table.

The youngest of the three women, about Kim's age, carried four large platters of various foods, including the huge turkey legs they had all ordered. The other two were both in their mid to late twenties and each carried twelve of the huge, thick walled tankards, called _Maßkrug_. The term _Maß_, from what Shego had told her and Ron, stood for the fact that each tankard held one liter of beer, and was used both as a unit of measure and as a descriptor for the tankards.

The way the waitresses brought the tankards was, in Kim's opinion, quite a feat of strength and endurance. Five of the tankards were held in each hand, and one was balanced on top of the other five. It looked almost painful, but the waitresses were handling them with aplomb, despite the occasional hand that seemed to try and find purchase on their rear ends. What was more shocking, she had seen a few other waiters and waitresses holding as many as nine of the tankards in each hand, and had boggled at the sight.

The tables were even a bit unusual. They were a lot like truncated picnic tables with a bench that went around the entire perimeter. Being essentially slightly elongated squares, Kim found herself sitting almost exactly at one corner of the table. Rufus was sitting at – or more accurately, _on_ - the short end of the table. Shego - to Kim's surprise, working as a security consultant - was situated at the corner opposite the red-head. Finally, Ron was sitting just down from the other woman. She glanced across the table at him and shook her head in wonder as a thought occurred to her.

A year before, she'd have been both worried and a bit jealous to be sitting for all intents and purposes _across_the table from him with another beautiful woman seated next to him. Now, she found herself surprisingly acquiescent to the arrangement. She briefly thought of justifying it because they were at Oktoberfest and she knew seating was at a premium. She quickly discarded it, though. After all, they had received a seat close to the tapping ceremony, and could have easily changed arrangements if it truly bothered her.

What actually set a slight dash of concern through her was the fact that Shego was sitting with them, and seemed to have fallen in with them much as she had as Miss Go. _Well, not as happy and chipper sounding, and _every_ bit as sarcastic as I'm used to!_ Kim corrected herself, her smile solidifying into a more natural, open expression of contentment. She took in Shego's clothing, which she had changed into before the ceremony. It was surprising to her how similar it was to her own, but seemed much more cosmopolitan with just a few changes.

Where Kim wore jeans, Shego had on a pair of men's style slacks. While the red-head had unabashedly worn tennis shoe like hiking boots, the former thief wore some that seemed in a passing glance to be loafers. The somewhat low cut blouses they wore, however, could have been purchased from the same rack, the only difference being Shego's robin's egg blue to Kim's cream color choice. _Okay, she dresses a lot more stylishly than Miss Go, but still… I guess it's nice…_

She shook her head and turned her attention back to the waitresses. At least their table's positioning meant they'd be served fairly quickly, as compared to the rest of the tent. It also made talking to any of the other three in their party easier - at least as easy as it was to converse in a tent with six thousand other people – and she got to look into her boyfriend's eyes.

Well, normally… Unfortunately his eyes weren't in a position to stare into, but she could forgive him for his attention wandering. Everyone's attention seemed fairly random, but then again, his attention seemed pretty straightforward in its random focus. Ron's stare was, at that moment, busy bouncing from the waitresses, to the food, to the beers, and back again. Or, Kim noted with the barest hint of jealousy, to the cleavage the _dirndl_they wore showed off. The jealousy passed quickly when she noticed Shego was staring, too. A light laugh escaped her lips, almost drowned out by the noise of the beer tent.

Almost, but obviously not completely as Ron glanced over and waggled his eyebrows at her, and this time Kim let loose a full bodied giggle. She reached across the table to grasp his hand, earning an almost disappointed, but heartfelt coo from the youngest of the three waitresses, who had apparently recognized him. "Two beers for Miss Shego, one each for Mr. Stoppable and Miss Possible, a glass for Mr. Rufus with Würstl and Brezn, and two turkey legs each for the rest?" the younger waitress asked.

"Yep!" Shego answered with a throaty chuckle, taking in the young woman's body unabashedly. The girl blushed at the attention, and both the former thief and Ron handed a total of fifteen Euros to them. The raven haired woman added a winking admonishment, "Split that between the three of you!"

"Thank you, ma'am!" the eldest of the three called out as she set Shego's drinks down by leaning across the end of the table. The woman's rather sizable breasts were squished into a very noticeable cleavage. Kim - and to her surprise, Shego - rolled their eyes in resigned amusement, while Ron averted his gaze to Kim.

After the food and beers were distributed, Shego caught Kim's attention and raised her eyebrow, "Hey, Princess, you asked 'You know what?' a second ago?"

Kim blushed slightly, "Sorry, kinda… This is a lot to take in, you know what I mean?" Shego nodded, her eyebrow still raised. Kim snorted lightly and shook her head, "And a _bit_ by the day in general, I guess?" She gestured around the huge beer tent, and then between herself, Ron, and even over towards the tables where politicians, as well as Falsetto Jones and Helga Lange in the Clockwork Knight and Diebfluch outfits, sans helmets, sat. Shego smirked and nodded in understanding as she understood what Kim's unspoken emphasis was implying, and the red-head continue, "Anyway, what I was saying is that, well, I never expected Dement-… Er, DeMenz to be so… Eloquent?"

"Apparently, he took public speaking as one of his double majors when he was studying at Berkley, and later on at MIST…" Shego informed the red-head, throwing up air quotes as she continued, "Most of his 'villainous rants' were ad libbed and intentionally over the top." Shego pursed her lips, contemplating the words they'd heard almost a half hour earlier. "Honestly, though, everything was well said… I know I felt some of it; especially that bit about how, with the Lorwardians, villainy doesn't really seem like a path worth following. As for the rest…" She shrugged and waved her hand in a 'fifty-fifty' gesture, "He's got some points, and some of it sounded like he's preparing for his run for the _Bundestag _during the next elections!"

"Yeah, but still…" Kim said, thinking as she stared into her beer, "I mean… Well, like you said, the way he said some of it, not just the villainy bit but the other things, it was like he was speaking what I've been feeling for a few months now… I don't know, it was just…" The red-head looked back up at Shego, staring straight into the older woman's eyes, "It's hard to explain…"

"I think I got ya, Kimmie…" Shego smiled slightly, then turned her attention to Ron as he spoke up.

"Well," Ron interjected, speaking through a mouthful of turkey leg. He quickly changed whatever he'd been about to say as he washed the turkey down with a swig of beer, "Oh, this is good!"

"It's not bad at all! _Lots_ better than that fruity stuff we had in Toronto, anyway!" Kim agreed, sipping at her own beer and surprising Shego by not wincing at the slightly bitter sourness of the beer tent's choice of _festbier_, the Spaten brewery's _Oktoberfestbier Ur-Märzen_. "What, it's not like I've been _completely_sheltered, Shego!"

"Didn't say anything, Princess…" Shego drawled lazily, taking several healthy gulps of her own beer, and the red-head agreed with a smirking nod of her head.

"No, but I bet you were _thinking_it!" Kim countered with a challenging glint in her eye.

"Yeah!" Rufus agreed, saluting Kim with his glass of beer. Kim returned the salute careful not to shatter his smaller, thinner glass with the huge tankard in her hand.

Shego laughed in an agreeable manner, "Okay, maybe a little." Shego leaned forward, steepling her fingers over her tankard, "But you have to admit, you have lead a relatively sheltered life, in some ways."

"Well," Kim shrugged, "Yeah, but we _are_ over eighteen and we _have_been in places that allowed drinks for eighteen year-olds!"

"Ayup!" Ron and Rufus confirmed, each taking a long pull on their beers to wash down their food. Kim was about to send another barb back at Shego, but Ron continued, "Anyway, like I was saying, he lost his nephew _and_ his father in the invasion, _and_he took over his father's company thanks to his own GJ pardon for helping with the Lorwardians, so it all makes sense, y'know?"

"Yeah…" Kim sighed after taking another pull at her beer. She noticed Ron's gaze going down the square table to a woman built similarly to Shego, who was wearing a very low cut tank top. She glanced over and saw that the woman giggling at a bad joke from her boyfriend. _Well, I know what caught his eyes…_she thought with a devious smile coming to her face. She rolled her eyes and schooled her features into an innocent smile, taking on a sickeningly sweet tone of voice, "Hey, Ron?"

Ron's eyes snapped dutifully back to Kim with a sheepish smile on his face, "Yeah, KP?"

"Just making sure your mind's not too pre-occupied for the conversation." Kim's smile widened, earning a light blush from Ron and a hearty guffaw from Shego.

"Nicely done, Princess!" Shego crowed with only mild sarcasm, winking at the red-head, "And I didn't even see the claws come out, either!"

"I'm not that bad!" Kim whined in protest.

"Not anymore, anyway!" Ron quipped with a smirk, earning a glare that, somehow, managed to be both heated and fond at once, "A year ago, though?" Kim's glower made Shego turn a curious stare at him, and the blond continued, looking at his girlfriend as if _she_were directing the gaze at him, "Remember homecoming?"

"Oh, God, don't remind me!" Kim groaned, covering her eyes with a hand, "I was _jellin'_ on Bonnie _so_hard!"

"Bonnie?" Shego asked, screwing her face up a bit, "Um, bitchy, dark brown hair, pretty eyes, nice ass and rack, attractive if you set aside the bitch? She's with Junior, right?"

"Married to him, actually," Kim nodded, blushing at Shego's blunt commentary about Bonnie's attributes, "She rigged the homecoming king and queen vote to win, and tried to steal Ron from me."

"Really?" Shego asked, glancing at Ron. She saw his blush as all the confirmation she needed, "So, November, if I remember the school schedule?" Kim nodded and Shego thought for a moment, "About when he hooked up with the same girl… They're married now?"

"Yep!" Ron laughed, "And it's done amazing things for 'em! He's not nearly as ditzy and he doesn't constantly do his hair, and Bonnie's really cool now!"

"Will wonders never cease…" Shego sniggered, shaking her head with a strange note of fondness, "I knew he had potential, but of all people, I never expected the, what did you call her? Queen B of Middleton High?" At Ron and Kim's nods she continued, "Anyway, never expected someone like _her_to drag it out of him!"

"Neither did B…" Kim agreed, her expression softening slightly, and her eyes coming a bit more into focus as she glanced across the table at Shego. She blinked a couple times, then let out a startled, nervous laugh, "Hell, I don't think any of us really expected it!"

Shego nodded in agreement after taking a long pull on her tankard, before setting it down to stare at Kim for a moment. "Everything alright, Kim?"

The honest concern in the pale woman's countenance startled Kim, even more than the former thief using her name as opposed to a nickname. That surprise stopped the red-head from spouting her normal response to the question. After a moment thinking about the answer, she sighed and leaned forward, pulling a chunk off of her turkey leg and chewing on it to buy time to formulate an answer.

Her hesitation was due to a complex mix of emotions. Partly it was because of who was asking, partly because she hesitated when even Ron asked. And, after a moment of thought, she realized that a larger part was that, honestly, the concern in Shego's expression reminded her of Miss Go in many ways. And Ron and Rufus were both nodding in agreement with Shego's question. _Might as well test the waters…_ Kim thought with a hopefully unobtrusive sigh, _At least I'll have Ron at my back if she gets bitchy!_

"Honestly?" Kim said questioningly, glancing between her boyfriend, their best non-human friend, and Shego, who all nodded, "Mostly, yeah, just…" She glanced around the beer tent, curling her mouth into a light grimace, "Well, aside from how over the top this all seems, I'm… Like I said a few minutes ago, I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed…"

"With the vacation?" Shego asked, eyebrows knitting slightly, "I figured the way you were earlier it was a lot more than that…"

"It _is_a whole lot more…" Ron supplied as Kim concentrated on devouring another hunk of roasted turkey, "School started out really good, but got stressful, and then some problems with timing of missions and some other things kept taking us away from each other…" Ron barked a mildly bitter laugh, "And of course some family drama happened… But the last part of her summer semester is what did it, I think…"

"Yeah…" Kim agreed, looking thankfully at Ron before turning back to Shego, a wan smile on her face, "I made the mistake of going into summer classes right out of high school …"

"I'm surprised you had trouble." Shego said sincerely, blinking a couple times.

"I shouldn't have, but I did." Kim shrugged, "Well, the problems came from one of my teachers, but that was dealt with by the Dean!"

"Where'd you go to college?" Shego was about to add more to that, but decided to hold off there. Kim looked at her as if expecting more questions and Shego smiled encouragingly, adding, "I could ask a _lot_more, Pumpkin, but this is a sensitive topic, and a stressful one it seems. So, considering this morning and our… History, I guess, I'll take it at a slow pace, 'kay?"

_Okay…_ Kim mused, a smile threatening her lips despite her concerns, _Either she's mind controlled, a clone or she _has_ turned over a new leaf… And it's nice to know she's as hesitant about all this as I am!_She glanced at Ron, who seemed to not only trust in Shego's change of heart, but seemed to feel a lot calmer about her presence than he had when she'd been Miss Go. "I went to GCU…" she answered at length.

"That's my alma mater!" Shego chortled happily, "Is old man McDermott still the dean?" she asked with a surprisingly fond smile.

"Yes," Kim smiled, "He's still there. And he's awesome, even though I hated bringing my problems to him…"

"Eh, it's what he gets paid to do, right?" Ron's face was sure, but he framed it as a question, evoking an almost tired sigh from Kim.

"Yeah, but I hated doing it!" the red-head snapped, then sighed, "Sorry, but I really didn't… It felt like I was asking for special treatment beca-…"

"Because nothing, Princess!" Shego blurted bluntly, "GCU has been a school where people with special attendance concerns, such as heroes, ill students and such can go without problems. Hell, it's been that way since the thirties when the second generation of mad scientists and heroes began to crop up." Shego tapped the table firmly with a finger for emphasis, "Seriously, Princess, if it was bad enough for _you_of all people to go to the dean, then there were probably ten, fifteen other students in about the same problems before you…"

"Really?" Kim's face held a great deal of surprise at the vehemence in the woman's voice.

"Trust me, Princess…" Shego smirked, "I went through problems with one of the teachers there when I attended. Kyle Slocomb, one of the top math professors, and he was working his way up to run the damn department."

"You too?" Kim gasped, "He seemed to hate me from day one!"

"How many classes did you end up missing because of your missions?" Shego prodded, pursing her lips slightly.

"Like…" she glanced over at Ron, "What, three?"

"Three for math, two English, and one phys-ed." Ron said after swallowing down a mouthful of his beer.

"So three days, total." Kim shrugged expansively.

"That's it?" Shego blinked, "I figured you'd be busy as hell!"

"Luckily, the villains still doing their thing kept it to nights or weekends." Kim laughed, "And GJ helped when they got extra funding after the invasion…"

"More than they already had?" Shego's tone was skeptical as she twisted her eyebrows together.

"Actually," Kim pursed her lips now, "From what Wade was able to determine, their budget was just enough to keep the smaller time villains from becoming big time. And they'd tried to warn the UN and other world agencies about the Lorwardians, but were ignored. So…"

Shego nodded as Kim shrugged and spread her hands out in a gesture of incomprehension. "Makes sense… And they really stepped up with offering aid, transport and such for the cleanup and everything…" Shego shrugged, "Guess they're not as bad as they used to be, at least!"

"Yup!" Rufus cheered, pausing in his devouring to give Shego a thumb's up.

"Anyway, no, I wasn't too busy…" Kim pursed her lips, "I even asked Wade if he could find something in his past to do with villains, but nothing came up…"

"I…" Shego started, before grimacing, "After a few problems at GCU because of him, a few of Team Go's friends did some digging, too. Nothing, unfortunately."

"So he's just a douche." Ron concluded with an air of finality.

"That he is." Kim agreed, pulling a startled laugh from Shego. Kim stared at her a moment, drawing more, slightly stifled laughter, form the woman, and Kim sighed, "What?"

"Sorry, Princess…" Shego hummed while trying to hold in her amusement, "It's just… I'm gonna need some time getting used to the change you two seem to've gone through over the last four months!"

"We're not the only ones who've changed!" Kim countered, pointing at Shego herself, "The new uniform looks great, and your hair is spankin'!"

"Um, 'spankin''?" Shego queried dryly "I take it back, you're still _such_a cheerleader…" The comment could have been quite acerbic, but the smile hovering at the edges of her lips and the sparkle in her eyes made it obvious she was teasing.

"Sure, sure…" Kim smiled, shaking her head and relaxing even more than she had been.

"She is right, though," Ron agreed with Kim's earlier assertion, "The suit Dr. L and Wade made for you looks amazing, and the hair is badical! It really makes you look hot." Rufus made a little cry of agreement before knocking his empty beer glass against Ron's, asking for a refill. Ron obliged and refilled from his own glass, not seeing the confused flash of emotions that crossed Kim's face.

Shego did, and although it was gone and replaced with the nearly relaxed, almost content smile she'd worn for most of the morning since the fight, Shego felt a brief flicker of concern, before mostly dismissing the flash of emotions. Instead, she let the warmth of Kim and Ron's honest compliments wash over her.

She could have turned to teasing one or both of the teens, but she felt a slightly coquettish smile crossed her features instead. She was feeling a comfortable sense of companionship with them, and more important, a sense of trust, so she didn't feel the need to hide behind teasing as she normally would have. "Thanks, guys…" she sighed warmly, then took a long sip of her beer and continued in a quietly musing tone, "I really don't get too many _honest_compliments, so it's good to hear 'em!"

"I'm surprised…" Kim muttered under her breath, the same strange flash of emotions crossing her features that had raised Shego's concern a moment earlier, mixed in with a slight burst of jealousy as she glanced up the side of Shego's body.

"Let's see," Shego replied, seeming to ignore Kim's words, "Green skin, 'fiery hands of doom' as Ronnie called 'em at least once, sarcasm that blisters paint, can't toler-…"

"It's still a surprise…" Ron countered firmly, shrugging as Kim nodded in agreement with him. He caught Kim's gaze out of the corner of his eye and knew if Shego went on, his fiancée's Kimness would act up, and figured that none of them really needed to see that after the morning. So he went with his most effective tactic in dangerous situations: being the master of distraction. "Anyway, considering some of the jobs you talked about, I bet the haircut was a godsend…"

"Actually…" Shego considered for a moment, "Yes and no. I got used to the extra weight before, so it took me a couple weeks to get used to the _lack_of weight." She reached up and fondled the foremost ends of her hair briefly, smiling, "But… I love it, to be honest. And you're right, when I got used to it, it helped me out on my jobs…" She glanced at Kim with a smirk on her face, "Or as Princess would probably call 'em, missions!"

Kim laughed and rolled her eyes, but nodded in agreement. Then she sighed, resting her chin on her right hand and tapping the bridge of her nose with her index finger, "You know, speaking of the missions? I think that's the one thing I've missed. Being out and doing something instead of doing nothing other than hanging around with people or study, study, study…"

"The missions?" Ron and Shego asked, the former thief continuing their mutual thought, "Or the fighting?" Shego snickered at Kim's rolling eyes, and continued, "Ronnie here's got a point, Princess. Until a minute or so ago, you look like you'd smoked a couple joints…"

"Oh, bull!" Kim cried, covering her face with her hands as she flushed in embarrassment, "I'm not that bad after an adrenaline rush!"

"Yeah, she was actually more hyper than normal…" Ron supplied, earning a startled gasp from Kim, who dropped her hands to stare open-mouthed at her fiancé.

"I know," Shego smirked, "Remember, I did stay with her family for a week last year!"

"Oh, come _on_!" Kim protested, "I just process adrenaline differently than most people!"

"Yup, very differently!" Shego's tone was that of a woman trying to remain deadpan, but failing miserably. Kim frowned, surreptitiously tearing a small hunk of meat off of her turkey leg and tossing it at the raven haired woman. Shego caught the action out of the corner of her eye, and swiftly moved to catch it in her mouth, winking at Kim in a lascivious fashion, "Thanks, Princess!" The action and comment drew a faux frustrated, highly amused growl from Kim and a series of guffaws from Ron and Rufus.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Director Director!" the head of the EU's Global Justice offices called out, the old joke of 'proper forms of address between officers' tugging the barest of smiles from her despite the worry audible in his tone, and visible in his narrow, somewhat beady eyes.

He was running up to her with his typically quick, efficient movements despite standing just over two meters tall and maintaining a larger than regulation girth, which was just one of many things that appeared non-regulation. His uniform gave the impression of being rumpled, despite obvious non-regulation tailoring and it's form fitting design. His moustache and sparse goatee were just a tad shaggy, and his face had a perpetual five o'clock shadow. The facial hair, his eyes, the jowliness of his round face and thin, pointed nose added to the appearance of a lazy, ineffectual fop, which was anything but the truth. And if he was worried...

"Yes, Director Depardieu?" the one eyed woman asked in a serious manner befitting his obvious concern.

The man had brought the various problems of his command to her attention a few months ago, just after he'd replaced the former European Director General. She had, in turn, brought the man in on the investigation early, and she felt that the work had finally borne fruit. "We have a potential situation…" he paused and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, then glanced at her pocket and turned his face down slightly.

_Sharply observant as usual,_ Betty thought with approval, _All despite playing up that slothful obliviousness. Well played, Durant!_She got the hint and casually put her hand in her left pocket in an impatient manner, cocking her head to the side slightly to enhance the effect. An instant after activating the white noise generator, she whispered, "Sierra-Gamma-Two-Two-Three."

The movements of her lips didn't match the words, nor did the European Director's as he spoke, "We have found the mole thanks to Mr. Load and Agent Du!"

"Indeed?" she asked leadingly.

"Yes, it's…" He glanced around as if whatever she'd said had eased his concerns a bit, "There are two possibilities, but only one within the agency. Agent Du discovered one of the doors in the facility does not work correctly despite his position within the agency. After some digging, Mr. Load discovered a way to it via a backdoor from an abandoned WWEE facility, and that the only member of GJ who can open it was Commander Williams. The other is an unknown female, possibly on WWEE's payroll."

"Where?" she prodded, not bothering to ask why Wade was unable to open it. Considering the path he took to get there, he was already running an incredible risk, and she was more than happy to just know about it. She'd done enough in her life to leave her with a stained conscience; she didn't need to add the possibility of harm to a barely fourteen year old boy to it.

"Sixth sub-basement," Director Depardieu answered while looking around, "The same floor as our weapons storage room and practice ranges." He wrung his fingers together nervously as Betty's eye hardened and narrowed.

"Very well." Betty said, shutting the device down. She closed her eye, bowing her head and running her thumb and forefinger across her chin, thinking furiously for almost a full minute. When her eye snapped open, she began snapping orders instantly, "Get Agent Du and everyone I brought form Middleton, the Logistics Commander _and_ his staff, _your_ staff, your second in command and _his_staff down to that door."

"My second is home celebrating his wedding annivers-…" the European director began, but Betty's voice cut him off like a razor.

"Then call him in, and make sure his family is secured and safe!" She waited for a few heartbeats as the man stared at her in shock, "Now, Director Depardieu!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Betty spun on her heel as he began snapping commands, and dashed down the corridor towards the emergency stairwell while tapping a few pre-set commands into her wrist communicator. The European director ran for his own office area, intent on gathering his staff before following her.

_You'd better not use the elevator when Alert Zulu goes off…_She thought with a grimace. She glanced at her wrist communicator, and saw the silent countdown to the alpha event lockdown she'd just authorized, set up to override even the European director's personal codes. The only two people on site in the facility that should be able to deactivate it were herself and Will. There was always Wade, but he was on her side, she knew, and would be monitoring for subterfuge and outright sabotage as she went about her duties.

During her last few steps to the stairwell door, she slipped an unobtrusive earbud device in her ear, making sure it was synched with her wrist communicator. _I hope Du, MacMillan and Masters have theirs in, I want everyone I trust monitoring!_She grimaced as she burst through the stairwell door, startling two low ranking agents with her sudden appearance. "At ease, you two're with me!" she barked without breaking stride. As she reached the stairs proper, she educated the agents - both of whom had questioned the need for such narrow stairwells - on one of the reasons for that very narrowness.

She reached her hands out and grabbed the railing, the supports for which came out of the wall almost fifteen centimeters below the rail proper. They also attached directly underneath the rail, allowing fingers to wrap mostly around the railing without striking the attachment points. Allowing her feet to swing out in front of her slightly, she turned her feet out at about thirty degrees, she then whipped her legs out and braced them firmly between the rails, using her feet to control her speed as she began to slide down the stairwell.

At the bottom she swung her legs back down, let go with her right hand and kept a grip with her left, turning her forward momentum into a swing that brought her around and at the top step of the next landing. She repeated the procedure for a total of eleven more flights. She smirked as she realized that the other two agents had been left behind by almost a flight and a half.

While they were obviously high speed, it had taken a couple false starts to begin using the technique she'd learned in the US Navy. They were also, despite their appearance, not nearly in the shape she was. _Another note for the facility when I begin cleaning house…_

She had just burst through the sixth sub-basement's doorway when she heard the alarm go off. She sighed as dozens of voices cried out in shock over her headset, and was pleased to see agents Du, Sites and Masters, as well as Senior Agent Trainers MacMillan and Simmons already in place. She was even more pleased to see Agent Masters, as well as both trainers, dressed in full assault armor, Agent Trainer Simmons holding a loaded and ready G-36 assault rifle at the port low position.

She glanced around the area she found herself in, taking in all the details in one sweeping glance. It was the confluence of three corridors, two elevators, three tube rooms, and four stairwells. The two hallways to her right and right rear lead to the weapon practice ranges and were large, open spaces with no cover. The other was long and narrow, with a few right angle turns before finally reaching the weapons storage rooms.

It made sense in a backwards sort of fashion, considering the weapons room was on the same floor. While most would think that lowering the number of entrances to such a floor would be better, Betty did not share that opinion. She was of the opinion that access control to the room proper – which had only one heavily guarded entrance that was through five airlocks – combined with ease of access to the floor for her own people, was the wiser choice of action.

After all, if the base was breached, she wanted as many of her own people as she could to get to the room quickly. From there, they could acquire arms and either take up defensive positions or move out quickly to intercept potential invaders. Those were only a few of the changes she'd implemented since taking over the agency eight and a half long years earlier, and she intended to keep improving things as long as she could.

Shaking herself out of her brief reverie, she glanced at Will. "Agent Du, which door?" Will pointed to the apparently blank wall across from the stairwell she'd just exited.

"Hidden panel for the access and doorway proper, ma'am!" he commented, pointing at the wall opposite the stairwell door Betty was standing in front of. Before he could continue, Betty heard the agents she'd ordered to follow her open the door, only to find five taser watches pointed at them.

"They're with me." Betty commented as she strode across the hallway, "Du, open the access panel, MacMillan and I will cover you. Sites, Masters, Simmons…" she glanced at the name placards of the two agents she'd conscripted from their duties, "Patenaude, Schiller, watch the other hallways, tasers ready."

"Ma'am!" all of them called out, Will taking to the task of opening the hidden panel, MacMillan covering him, while the rest took up optimal guard positions about the confluence area.

When Will opened the access hatch, the thin camouflage covering of the door slid aside, revealing a door that was four meters tall and ten wide, split in the middle. Hearing stamping feet coming from one of the weapon range corridors, she noticed the Logistics Officer and five other people dashing towards them.

"Log Officer Williams." Betty nodded curtly to the hugely built man. A few moments later a stairwell door further down the same hallway burst open and the overweight European Director pushed out, mildly impressing Betty by only puffing slightly from the extended exertion.

"What is this about?" the logistical officer asked, his English accent thicker than normal, "I have business to attend to!"

"That is what we're here to find out!" Betty snapped, eyeing Will.

"Mr. Williams," Will spoke in the clean, concise tone he'd used for so many years, indicating the large, vault like door across from the stairwell Betty had used, "Would you care to open this door?"

"I've never bee-…" the man began, only to be cut off by the European director.

"You will open the door," Director Depardieu's tone was cold, "Or we will use your biometrics to do so, Williams."

Williams glanced around worriedly, realizing that even some of his own men were starting at him askance and he shook his head in a frustrated manner. "I've never been beyond this door before!"

"Be that as it may," Betty interjected smoothly, "We have it on good authority that you are the only member of this office able to open it." To illustrate her point, she walked over to the door and placed her hand on the scanner, despite Will and Director Depardieu's protests.

"Enter authorization code." The feminine, robotic voice that spoke seemed to be the standard GJ voice, but Betty noticed slight variances in pitch that most would have missed.

"Director, Betty, Director Global Justice, door lock override function November-November-Oscar-Whiskey-Delta." Her voice was precise, and the command should have opened the door without fanfare. Seeing that the door remained closed, she immediately pulled her hand back, and it was a very fortunate move.

The panel sparked loudly, several arcs of electricity jumping between electrodes hidden within the perimeter. "Access authorization incorrect."

"Williams." Betty said calmly as she stepped back, her single cold eye almost taking his breath away, "That may very well have been fatal to me had I not removed my hand. Open it. Now." She did not raise her voice at all, but the cold, smooth delivery of her words struck him like a silken dagger sliding between his ribs.

"I…" the man looked around at the hard faces, and swallowed as three dozen GJ agents in heavy assault gear stormed into the area, a mix of less than lethal munitions and quite lethal firearms on display. "Ma'am… I was just…"

"You can give your excuses later, after you've surrendered yourself into the facility's custody!" Williams winced and opened his mouth to protest, but Betty continued without pause, her voice still calm but holding an edge of command few people would be able to ignore as she continued, "Open the door. Do not make me give the order again."

Williams was not one of those few, despite having been a decorated military veteran before joining Global Justice, even despite being known as a hard man within the ranks of the agency. He'd endured screaming, abusive dressing downs that would have blistered the armor of a main battle tank, and had held firm throughout them all. Now, standing a full head and a half taller than the woman giving him the order, he swallowed. He was nervous, so nervous in fact, that his birth accent, one that he rarely let free from what was once called 'BBC English', came through. "Roight awhy, mu'm!"

He all but ran across the hallway and placed his hand on the scanner. He didn't bother with a voice print, as the door began opening immediately. The base of the half meter thick door swung out and upwards towards the far wall, the top slipping down and backwards into the hall behind it. When it slid fully open, two massive hydraulic rams slid equally massive locking bars into place along the front face to lock it open.

"There has to be other ways in and out!" Betty growled as the logistics commander was taken into custody by two of his men, one of the European Director's men, and three of the assault team members. "Director Depardieu, keep him here in case there's other doorways locked to his biometrics, and I want the status on your second-in-command!"

"My men are just arriving, I will keep you updated, ma'am!" the pudgy commander answered smartly, snapping a salute that would have done Agent Du proud.

"Thank you. Agent Du, with me, Senior Agent Trainer Simmons, you'll lead two assault squads in there to secure it and search for possible alternate escape routes." She turned to Director Depardieu, "I want four hydraulic floor jacks down here yesterday to hold this door up, just in case!"

"Ma'am!" the director acknowledged, barking orders into his own earbud.

Betty stood back from the door next to Will, surveying the scene before her with professionally detached scrutiny. Will held himself in a similar position, but had a small, slightly pleased expression at the smooth efficiency the assault squads went about entering and clearing the area, "They're doin' good, ma'am. Looks like the training in the Sierra Nevada facility for Oscar Niner scenarios was a good thing."

"Indeed, Will." Betty conceded, barely keeping a smile from her face as he threw out a code set within a completely proper statement. _Definitely getting better, Will!_Even with her pleasure at the smoothness of the operation, her brow was furrowed in concern. For one, it was going too smoothly, and she could see the same concern written in Will's stance. There was also the reaction to the logistics commander's apparent betrayal; his people were shocked, to the point that they were giving him the most heated glares of anyone there. "Do you think it was Commander Williams?" she commented, her mouth moving out of time with her words.

"No, ma'am." Will responded immediately, "He's loyal to a fault, but he's not _too_loyal, nor is he perfect."

"My thoughts, as well." Betty nodded, glancing around. She was about to turn her attention back to Will when a startled exclamation from the European Director snapped her attention to him like a bloodhound on a scent.

"Director Director!" the man's face was white as snow, "My… My Second is missing, and his family and the bodyguards have been rendered unconscious with knockout gas! It appears they used grenades from our own stores!"

"What?" Betty boggled for all of two seconds, a near record. "That should be impossible!" she grated, "The medical scanners wou-…"

"Are still reporting normal activity!" Wade called to her over the private comm. channel he had opened with her. "I can't believe I missed this, ma'am! He's right, no one would have known one way or the other…"

"Hell." she sighed under her breath. "Director Depardieu, he has four sets of bodyguards including overwatch, yes?" The European director nodded, and she continued, "First, send two forensic teams to scour each location…"

"That will only leave one here for the room, ma'am." Will interjected, and Betty nodded her thanks.

"Fine, send one each to the bodyguard stations, and two to his residence." The pudgy director nodded, but she held up a hand, deep in thought, "Scratch that, get four teams from local jurisdictions that are up to date with our forensics hardware to cover the stations, I want the others to go over every office the second has been in for any length of time. While I don't believe he was responsible for this, someone may have found a way to get to him and use him as a wedge in the door."

"Yes, ma'am!" the pudgy director answered and turned away to give the orders.

"Commander Williams…" the Englishman looked up at her, "I personally think you had little to no knowledge of what this is about, but only followed orders in hiding this. How long ago was it you performed this action?"

"About…" the man looked down as he thought, "About four and a half, perhaps five years ago."

"So before any of the command staff aside from European Division's Second Agent Magnusson were here?" He nodded again. Betty pursed her lips, "Would you be willing to be put under the effects of the truth ray?"

"I…" the man sighed and nodded glumly, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Betty spun on Director Depardieu, "Get me the ray, now!"

"Ma'am?" the man looked completely confused.

"It's listed as being in _your_stores, Director!" she barked, turning on Will, "Agent Du! Take three men and secure the truth ray, ASAP!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Will snapped off a perfect salute, then spun and picked a three man team to follow him to the research storage on the third sublevel.

"Ma'am!" Simmons called as he and one of the squad leaders walked back into the hallway, "Everything's clear except for another door similar to this one." He jerked his thumb at the door that they had entered, stepping aside as a crew muscled a five hundred pound floor jack out of the stairwell.

"Dammit, why didn't someone call me about the jacks?" she growled out, "How many more are in the stairwell?"

"None, ma'am!" the wheezing engineering tech answered, "This was the only one that would fit in the stairs…"

"This is the Director!" she called into her wrist communicator, "Stand down to alert level Tango, repeat, stand down to alert level Tango. Authorization Sierra-Sierra-Golf-Golf-Golf-Baker-Niner-Three-Three."

As acknowledgements came through the earbud, she looked at the doorway as if staring hard enough would give her answers. "We'll get to the bottom of this," she promised no one in particular, "One way or the other!"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Oh my God!" Kim half brayed in amusement as she paused, leaning against a steel railing near the _Hofbräu-Festzelt_. Shego and Ron - with Rufus riding on his shoulder – both stopped and leaned against the same railing, which was a relatively calm corner of inactivity in the bustling festival. "I can't believe they got into a boob flashing contest!"

Her voice was louder than normal, due to the blasting pop music from the tent and the alcohol she'd consumed. While she hadn't been slurring her words in any noticeable fashion, the double shot of Jägermeister she'd downed less than five minutes earlier was starting affect her. "Oh, wow, I think I'm buzzed…"

"That kinda shit happens all th'time here …" Shego chuckled, her words a bit more slurred due to the higher alcohol intake she'd pursued. "Both the buzz _and_ the boobs!" Kim groaned at the rather painful attempt at humor, while Ron and Shego both chuckled, "But, seriously, about the boobs? Believe me, Princess it does happen a lot, and usually a lot more than just that. I _have_been here a few times, y'know!"

"How many's a few?" Ron asked, blinking and shaking his head slightly. He'd managed to pace himself between Kim and Shego's beer and stronger alcohol intake, but was feeling almost as tipsy as Shego.

"This'll be my fifth…" Shego said after a couple moments of thinking, "An' from t'first time I came here, th' strip teasin' an' groping's something that's always happened, 'specially in the _Schottenhamel_ an' _Hofbräu_ tents." She shrugged as Kim looked at her. _She's so cute when she all flustered and angry…_she thought, before shaking her head and concentrating on what she was saying. "Well, I guess y'can see that kinda stuff damn near ever'where here at one point 'r another."

"How often did it happen to you?" Kim asked, "The gropin' I mean?"

"A few times, 'specially my first time here by m'self!" Shego admitted with a laughing shrug, "Th' first time wasn't too bad, 'cause I had someone along that dealt with 'em, but for the most part, th' idiots tend t'avoid me."

"Why's'at?" Ron asked with a confused twist of his eyebrows.

"Iunno?" Shego shrugged, "Guess I jus' give off th' right kinda vibe, but a few that did ended up with sprained wrists." She paused for a moment as that sunk in, then smiled evilly, "Th' ones that didn't take th'hint with sprained wrists ended up with broken wrists or thumbs."

"Like th' dick that grabbed my tit almost did." Kim griped as a fulminating frown crossed her features. The alcohol was finally starting to take a more noticeable effect on her; her words slurring more noticeably, and her eyes becoming half lidded as she glanced about them as if looking for the man that had groped her.

"Hey now, KP," Ron interjected, "Y'kept your cool, which's awesomely badical by th'way, and I think I dealt with 'em fine."

"Y'mean the ones that realized Kimmie was th'one they were grabbin'?" Shego asked with a snicker, "Or th' one that shit himself when'e realized you were, well, _you_?"

"All of it!" Kim giggled, leaning over to give Ron a passionate, almost showy kiss. The blond blushed slightly at the kiss. Not because he was embarrassed at the public display of affection, but the fact that it was a tongue battling kiss Kim normally waited to unleash in private.

"Woo!" Shego cried sarcastically, "Next thing y'know you'll be flashin' the crowds, Princess!"

"Y'mean like _you_almost did before I got groped?" Kim asked as she broke the kiss, leaving her arms around Ron's neck, giving the older woman a mock glare.

"Well, yeah?" Shego asked with faux innocence in her expression, "I mean, okay, the groping and some asshat tryin' to get into my bag kinda ruined the moment, but…"

"Yeah…" Kim said in a drawn out manner, pausing for a moment as a thought struck her. The thought caught her so off guard that she gave voice to it without her normal tact, "I thought you'd wanna avoid it, though… I mean, with what ya said earlier about not getting compliments 'n' stuff."

"Hey, now…" Shego stuck her tongue out at Kim, but the red-head was still sober enough to see the flash of hurt that passed behind the older woman's flippant façade, "I'm jus' drunk enough not t'give a damn about what anyone else thinks…"

"Sorry…" Kim said sincerely, impulsively reaching out with her right arm to give Shego a brief but intense one armed hug, "It's ferociously unfair that people're idiots. I mean, you're a beautiful woman, an' it's just wrong for anyone to hold somethin' like skin color against 'em!"

"Well," Shego countered with a small, but honest smile at Kim's vehemence, "It's not like I'm black, Pumpkin… I'm kind of a toxic green, y'know? Implies I'm radioactive or somthin', I guess!"

"Well," Kim countered, intentionally copying her turn of phrase with a smirk, "It's not like someone else can get your powers like a disease or fungus or anythin'…" Kim waited until Shego cocked her head questioningly before continuing, her words coming out with a giggling rush, "Not without a huge, jeweled staff to compensate or something, anyway!"

Shego burst into sudden, almost painfully intense laughter at Kim's abnormally blunt, risqué comment. "Oh, oh, God, _thank_you, Kimmie…" Shego said after a moment, wiping a tear from her eye, "I needed that." She reached out and ruffled Kim's hair fondly, before setting her hand gently on Kim's shoulder. "And 'sides, the only opinion's I give much'f'a damn about are people I like."

Kim's smile was so bright that Shego half expected to see rainbows spontaneously appear across the _Theresienwiese_. No such occurrence struck, and Kim's smile abated to a far more normal expression, but she was obviously happy about the development, before she paused and held a hand to her stomach. "I know we just got done eatin', but I'm hungry again." she pouted, glancing between Shego and Ron, "And I'd kinda like t'get away from the grounds for a bit."

"She's always like this after drinking, isn't she?" Shego asked Ron with a wicked smirk on her face.

"Dunno?" Ron asked, shrugging, "We've never drunked this much."

"Drank!" Kim, Shego and Rufus all chimed in at once, "Jinx!" Shego and Kim called at once, before staring at each other challengingly, "Dammit." Shego concluded, before all four of them laughed.

"Hey," Ron glanced at Shego after a moment of thought, "How 'bout we take your stuff back to your hotel, an' then we find a place t' eat on the way back?"

"After the theft attempt," Kim agreed, "I think that might not be too bad an idea, y'know?"

"Why all four of us?" Shego mock complained, pouting at Kim, "Don't think big, bad Shego can be a good girl for long enough t'get to her hotel room?"

"Oh, _please_, Shego…" Kim rolled her eyes with a groan, "It'll just be a lot easier for us t'get ahold of ya or set up gettin' together tomorrow or whatever if we know where you're stayin' and stuff, y'know?" Ron and Rufus nodded in agreement, and Shego, despite her joking tone, had to agree with the logic.

"'Kay…" Shego agreed easily, "We'll have t' either eat near my hotel or stop on t'way back, 'cause I'm stayin' at the Mandarin Oriental this year." Kim cocked her head in confusion, and Shego realized she hadn't told them about her normal arrangements in Munich, "The Lorwardians trashed th' buildin' my apartment here was in, an' all the bed 'n' breakfasts were full up."

"Oh." Kim replied with slightly widened eyes, "Well, we're at the Hausmann Suites…" Kim replied, blushing slightly as she continued, "Fritz insisted we get a free stay anywhere a Hausmann hotel is, an' the only room they had was a 'Princess Suite' room."

"Nice…" Shego drew out, sorely tempted to tease Kim about the room name. After a moment, she decided teasing the red-head about it could wait for later, and she shrugged, "Well, th' U-bahn is this way, hopefully it won' be too busy right now…"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Eight hours later, Betty and the crew at the hidden room had discovered several things. One, that the rooms beyond the door were a storehouse of mad scientist gear. Gear she had personally ordered destroyed after thorough examination, and had watched several of the items destroyed with her own eye. Then there was the second door as Simmons had reported. After making sure Commander Williams was indeed loyal, and giving him a heartfelt apology of her own, they had further discovered that the door was not keyed to his biometrics.

Luckily, the discovery hadn't been painful like the test at the main door would have been, as the panel gave GJ standard 'classified area' warnings. Betty sighed as she stared at the computer tech that had been carefully tapping into the locking system, willing him to work faster, but through force of will held her tongue.

"We're ready whenever you are, Sir." the tech commented into his headset.

"I hope this works…" Will commented, and Betty smiled slightly. They were playing a dangerous game, since the device was disconnected from any outside service, they were remotely piping in a connection from the base proper. They were unsure if there were any viruses that could infiltrate their system, so they had Wade Load and Dr. Lipsky standing by to help combat them if there were.

"We're in!" the computer tech crowed triumphantly, "And no defensive computer countermeasures to speak of."

"Good." Betty growled, stepping forward to speak to the computer tech.

"There it goes…" someone commented as the door opened much like the first had. This door, however, was designed on a more massive scale. The door was far thicker, at over a meter and a half, and in addition to the rams that had pulled the first door from the top, there were three hydraulic rams pushing up from the floor, one on each edge and one in the center. When the door finally reached its open position, four rams shoved four locking bars into place much like the first door.

"Take cover!" Betty roared as a piercing alarm sounded. Immediately, she shoved the computer tech out of the open doorway and ducked into a forward roll, managing to find cover behind one of the floor ram's casings. Two of the assault team's point men, one of which was Senior Instructor Simmons, ducked in with her, while the third point man began backpedaling towards his team.

The third man was struck by the first plasma stun round to fly out of the darkness of the chamber. Simmons and the other point man were both struck, having had reactions just a hair slower than Betty's, and while protected from followup hits, were still knocked out cold. Will shoved two junior agents down and towards the side, falling on top of the newest, a woman who had just finished up her cadet trials.

Director Depardieu, despite all appearances of being a slothful, slow moving man, somehow managed to mimic Will. He dove in the opposite direction, covering both one of his more junior agents as well as the computer that the tech had used to hack into the system.

"Get th' Director'n th' other two outta thar, now!" Will roared like a drill instructor, his home state's accent coming to the fore in a way that hadn't been heard by any member of Global Justice for literally years.

Despite the incongruity of the man and his shocking vocal gymnastics, anyone that was potentially close enough dove to try and help. Senior Instructor MacMillan managed to grab the point man closest to him without being hit. Another assault agent dove for Senior Instructor Simmons, but she was struck right where her shoulder and chest armor met, and the weakness allowed enough electrical discharge through to knock her unconscious before she managed three steps.

"Security compromised, enacting lock down." a cool, feminine electronic voice commented dryly, and the door began to swing down. Betty, seeing this, dove from behind her cover to drag Simmons _deeper_into the room. It was the smart choice, as if she had stayed, and had she left Simmons behind, they'd have been crushed between the door and the hydraulic ram's housings.

Betty immediately began dragging Simmons towards cover, only to hear the defensive computer system announce, "Standing down to readiness level two."

Betty blinked, glancing around the hallway. Lights had come up as soon as the door was closed, and she found herself in what amounted to a large foyer designed to be a staging area. Plasma staff charging stations, simple bench seats, and storage units for various munitions lined the walls.

Betty activated her wrist communicator as she looked around warily at the plasma launchers that had been active a moment before. "Agent Du, come in!" Betty barked, then glanced at her communicator, realizing that there was no reception.

"Communication signals jammed, as per your standing orders, Dr. Director." the feminine defensive computer's voice called.

Betty grimaced and called out, "What the hell is going on here?"

A three second pause preceded the computer answering her in a frustratingly calm tone, "I'm sorry, Dr. Director, but as per your orders, until and unless you give full biometric release at the main control console, I am unable to give out that information."

"Fine…" Betty sighed, playing along. She glanced around, scowling as she realized the design and construction was identical to normal Global Justice bases, and took a chance, "I am out of sorts, and need a pathway lit to lead me to the main control console, authorization Gamma-Oscar-Niner-Two."

"Acknowledged," the voice said promptly, electroluminescent pigments in the wall's paint lighting a pathway as ordered, "As per my design parameters, I must strongly suggest that if you are sufficiently compromised you seek medical attention and pass current command authority on to the next ranking officer available."

"Understood," Betty confirmed, "That should not be necessary, but if my faculties are further compromised, I shall."

"Very well, Dr. Director," the voice intoned, "If you would follow the lighted path."

Betty did just that. She kept her eyes open and boggled at some of the things she saw. Warehouses filled with GJ materiel, from weapons to armor to vehicles. A room filled with filing cabinets, which gave her pause long enough to peruse a few files. Personnel files, as well as research materials. She slammed the filing cabinets closed and continued down the hallway.

At the end of the hallway was a control center, much like a miniature of Global Justice Europe's, which was again a miniature of the main headquarters facility between Upperton and Middleton. What took her aback was the insignia adorning the main viewscreen. "WWEE?" she gasped, before turning her attention to the command console and the biometric thereupon.

She placed her hand against the handprint scanner and leaned down, letting the laser scan her retinal pattern. "I am Dr. Elisabeth Director, Director General of Global Justice worldwide operations, and I authorize a full release-…"

"Belay that!" a voice called out from behind her, and Betty uncharacteristically froze. After all, hearing a perfect rendition of their own voice coming from the shadows would startle anyone.

"Acknowledged, Dr. Director." the computer intoned emotionlessly, and Betty spun around, her mouth falling open at what she saw.

"Second Agent Magnusson!" Betty growled, and he barked a hard laugh at her.

"Surprise, Betty!" the lanky man standing behind her crowed. He had a small, PDA sized device next to his mouth, and Betty knew immediately it was a Mk. XV Voice Modulator, a GJ device that could mimic any person's voice perfectly. Then there was a brief, high pitched whine, and the man raised his arm, letting the voice modulator drop back against his chest, "I'd hoped when you finally found this you'd be in here alone, and I was right!"

Betty tried to dodge as her brain kicked back into action and she realized what the man was planning. There, at his wrist, was a Global Justice issue wrist communicator, and the whining had been the Taser's capacitors charging up. Unfortunately for Betty, the Taser's pad was already in the air, and it struck her neck just above the jumpsuit. She let loose a stuttering cry of pain as one hundred and fifty thousand volts blasted into her body. _Damn, he knew I was wearing one of Drew's new suits!_

"And I do have to thank you for bringing in the Truth Ray…" the man's voice held a smirk and he stood in a confident, open stance, "It will make things so much simpler for me."

He reached into what looked to be a standard issue jumpsuit and removed a jet injector. Betty tried valiantly to fend the man off, but her muscles were still protesting the electrical discharge. He pulled back the sleeve of her jumpsuit and held the injector to the muscles above her wrist. Within a moment of the injector hissing, Betty felt the muscles in the area stop responding to her. "Oh, don't worry, Betty… This is the mark four serum; it won't stop your involuntary muscle contractions, but it _will_keep you docile until I can get you under my control physically."

Betty opened her mouth to spit a venomous curse at the man still shrouded in darkness, but could not. She settled for relaxing, instead. No need to give herself a headache by fighting the effects of a temporary drug, was there? It was a small bit of control, but any little bit helped; after all, she had a feeling she would need as much control and rest as she could get…

**Author's Notes**

Ok, it's a bit late… Sorry about that, both my story-flow beta and I got bitten on our respective rear ends by real life, and then the Thanksgiving holiday snuck up on me, but better late than never, right?

Erm, anyway, what was that? Shego's acting nice, pleasant even? Well, as pleasant as she can be with her sarcasm intact… And Ron seems to actually be a bit with it, huh? And Kim… Well, she seems, in some ways, to be living up to the red-head stereotypes, eh?

Then there's Global Justice. Uh, oh… Hope I'm not giving too much away with that last bit, but at the same time, I hope I've managed to pique some interest in what's goin' on.

Anyway, as always, thanks to Neo for making sure it's readable, and to everyone reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and remember, there's a load of fics out there, so keep up the reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Forward**

Sorry for the delay, I've had to do a lot of thought on the next few chapters... As a fair warning: the next few chapters are, in my own opinion - and I'm sure in my flow/feel beta Neo the Saiyan Angel's opinion - long. But that length, as annoying as it can sometimes be, is necessary to present some aspects of characterization that will be important the future stability of the fic. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it. :3

As to my reviewers:

ShadowCub: I really hope I'm not presenting such a scenario here. I've tried very hard to show a Ron that grew from season three and through season four (with some authorial creative license) that's still a goofball, but not an outright moron. Especially as opposed to the overbearing presentation of Ron by some authors from 'both sides of the track', if you will (KiRo and KiGo shipping authors - and the Kim Possible series' writers in season four - are both guilty of presenting Ron in a way that insults not only his potential as a character, but as he was presented in the show pre-season four, by either making him so much _more_ or so much _less_ than he actually _is_...). I hope you can enjoy the story, even with my presentation of the relationships over the time of the fic.

Pesterfield: thanks, as always, for the post mortem style beta, and as always, I hope you continue to enjoy the fic.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"That still doesn't explain why in the hell my stay's been canceled?" Shego growled hotly at the front desk manager of the Mandarin Oriental. She was beyond enraged, as her room key card had not worked, and due to her desire to keep her pardon clean, she had resorted to more 'normal' means of resolving the issue. At least she had sobered up enough with the cool night air that she wasn't slurring her words.

"Ma'am," the woman stood her ground, her apologetic hazel eyes almost belying the firm expression on her softly angular face. "I'm looking into it, but it will take a few moments, as I have only been on shift for a short while." the short, petite blonde's voice was surprisingly low pitched, and in the exact manner Shego found incredibly sexy. She turned away from the attractive woman and surveyed the area surrounding the front desk reception area to distract herself; unsure why she felt the need to distract herself, but after a few seconds of contemplation, she decided not to bother with figuring it out and just went with it.

Besides, the lobby was calming. It was very contemporary in design, despite the outer appearance of older architectural design, and done up in a calming mix of colors. There was also Kim, Ron and Rufus standing near the entrance, wondering at her enraged expression. Kim nodded at something Ron said and they all started forward, drawing a sigh from Shego. The reception area, the soothing qualities of the manager's voice and Team Possible there all combined to help Shego calm down slightly.

_Not that I'm going soft,_ she griped to herself, _I'm just tired of being on the run. And I like this place. And I'll admit hanging out with those two _has_ actually been fun…_

She broke off her train of thought as the woman behind the desk spoke up, "I'm afraid that, according to this, you called and cancelled the stay due to an emergency? We gathered your belongings from the room and placed them within the hotel's secure storage, as per your request." She glanced back at the computer screen and frowned slightly, "Unfortunately, the room's already been given to someone else, but the funds for the rest of the stay were refunded, as per certain rules regarding those working with the Munich city government or agencies such as Global Justice…"

"I don't care about the mo-…" Shego began, then stopped, blinking several times in confusion. Kim and Ron had heard the situation, and Ron was translating some of the quicker German for the red-head. After a moment, they shared a significant glance between them, which furthered Shego's confusion. Seeing this, the security consultant spun around and tapped the reception desk firmly, "What time was the call, and what does this have to do with Global Justice?"

"One moment, ma'am…" the concierge looked at her computer and frowned slightly, "According to our records, that was at approximately ten-fifty this morning, and was a conference call between you, our morning manager, and Global Justice Europe's second in command? Although… Now this is strange…"

"At ten-fifty this morning," Shego growled, ignoring the manager's comment about something strange, "I was being dragged over the skies of Munich by a jackass in a jetpack with Kim Possible here…"

"And we can vouch for her…" Kim said in somewhat cleaner German that she'd been using earlier in the day, "She was working on… Um… Security for the Oktoberfest opening parade. And you're _certain_ it was the Global Justice European Union office's _second_in command?" The look on her face screamed that she hoped she'd said all of it correctly, and that she hadn't slurred anything. The nod of confused understanding on the manager's face indicated she had succeeded, and Kim seemed quite pleased about it.

"That adds to the strangeness…" the manager pursed her lips, "Yes, it says here that the second in command had offered you a paying mission, and agreed to send an agent from Global Justice to pick up your belongings at…" she frowned, "In about fifteen minutes?"

"Really…" Shego said in English, drawing the word out before turning to Kim and Ron, "I think we should wait for this agent."

"Not a bad idea…" Kim and Ron agreed.

Shego turned and addressed the manager, "When the GJ agent gets here, don't let him have any of my belongings, okay?" The woman nodded, and Shego gestured after Kim and Ron as they walked deeper into the lobby, "I'll be sitting with them."

"Not a problem, ma'am." the manager called after her as Shego followed the teens as they sat in plush chairs arranged around a small table.

"This tanks for you, Shego!" Ron said firmly, earning an agreeing nod and a boisterous vocal agreement from Rufus.

"I know, right?" Shego sighed, then shrugged, "But, eh, it's all good. It just sucks that I don't have a place to stay. Well, a place that's halfway close to downtown or the _Theresienwiese_I mean!" Shego fumed for a moment before she sank into the chair opposite Kim, which afforded her a view of the front entrance. None of the occupants noticed that Rufus was giving Shego an intense, considering stare.

"We have a two bedroom suite…" Kim and Ron said at the same time, then glanced at each other and burst out in a mutual bout of laughter, before Kim continued, "If you don't mind staying with us?"

"That might work, but…" Shego blinked, a confused jumble of thought crossing her mind in a few instants of time, before she shook her head slightly and asked the obvious, "But, um… Why? The two bedroom suit, I mean?"

"It was all that was available at the Hausmann Suites." Kim replied with a shrug, "And since Fritz convinced us accept a free stay at any Hausmann owned hotel, Ron kinda set it up when our hotel room was unreserved from under us."

"Yeah, something really similar to what just happened to _you_happened to us the night we arrived." Ron said, "Except without the GJ…"

"What do you mean?" Shego asked, and Kim picked up Ron's earlier thread of thought.

"When we got to our original hotel," the red-head groused, "Someone had called them up with a perfect copy of my voice and cancelled it."

"Okay," Shego said in a drawn out fashion, "How perfect?"

"Wade couldn't tell the difference between my voice over the Kimmunicator or the recording." Kim pinched her lower lip lightly between her thumb and forefinger, "GJ Europe's second in command…"

"Yeah, that's the _really_weird thing…" Ron frowned now, pointing at Shego, "The next morning, as we were on our way to the parade, that same guy called and said you were in charge of the thieves trying to steal the tap!"

"I think," Shego growled, "That we should call whoever's in charge of GJ Europe and ask what the hell's going on!" Grimacing, she added, "Hell, Cyclops is supposed to be over in France, and she's GJ's overall director, and considering what you just told me…"

"Wade," Kim said, activating her Kimmunicator, she placed the call and started speaking as soon as Wade's face came on screen, "Wade, we need to get ahold of Dr. Director if it's possible?"

"I'm not sure, Kim…" Wade said, "There's a situation… But I can get you someone in charge that I can trust, since you're asking for Betty directly."

"Do it, Wade, please and thank you." Kim said as Shego looked over the red-head's shoulder.

Kim turned casually and saw a man dressed in an almost perfectly regulation GJ undercover suit walk through the front door. "I'll bet that's our boy." Shego said firmly, standing, "You wanna stick around over here and wait while Ronnie and I go talk to him?"

"Why me and you?" Ron asked, glancing between Shego and Kim, noting a slight frown on Kim's face, as if she were considering something unpalatable.

"Because you speak German even better than _I_do," Shego laughed, "And you're a celeb here in Germany, 'specially among cops and GJ types, so it'll help keep him calm if he's being used by someone else."

"Good idea." Kim agreed, smiling suddenly and nodding. Ron opened his mouth to ask her something, then shrugged and turned back to Shego.

The two of them turned and walked forward briskly, intercepting the GJ agent halfway to the front desk. The man, a tall, lanky fellow in his early twenties, had close cropped, sandy brown hair and wide, guileless brown eyes, looked first at Ron, then with a strange, startled expression at Shego. "R-Ron Stoppable? Shego?"

"Hi there!" Ron said in German, a happy smile on his face, "Look, we know you're with GJ, and we have a couple questions about why you're here, Agent?" Ron's voice trailed off, and the young man harrumphed as if nervous at being caught.

"Gruber…" Agent Gruber muttered after the barest of hesitations. Technically, he was breaking undercover protocol, and he knew it. But with a man that was considered a celebrity hero in his home country, who was also a huge personal hero, and a woman who had gone from notorious thief, to a heroine of even more renown, to a possible fugitive, sometimes it was best to play it safe. Especially if they already knew who you worked for...

"We've been told it was to pick up my belongings?" Shego said in a darker tone, crossing her arms over her chest and leveling a somewhat heated gaze at the man. She barely held back a smirk as the man fidgeted, realizing she'd easily fallen into the 'good cop, bad cop' routine without even thinking about it.

"Um…" He seemed at a loss, blinking several times before regaining his composure. "Well, I… Shouldn't talk about this, but, um… Mr. Stoppable, why are you helping Shego when she's supposed to be in prison?"

"Prison?" Shego asked with a raised eyebrow, pursing her lips slightly, "For what, exactly?"

"Um…" the man asked then sighed slightly as he spied Kim walking over, a frown on her face. "I was informed that you were imprisoned for helping in an attempt to steal the Ceremonial Tap, and that you'd injured Miss Possible seriously by GJ Europe's Second Agent…"

"I'll have you know," Shego growled tightly, "That I was helping prevent the theft of the tap! You can ask these two, and as you can see," She glanced back at Kim, "Kimmie's _not_in the hospital!"

"Um, yes, I can…" Agent Gruber choked, "Er... I was also ordered to maintain complete radio silence and await a specifically timed call at one of our safehouses..."

"Agent?" Kim asked in English, unknowingly mimicking Ron's earlier comment.

"Gruber…" he sighed, his stance indicating he felt things weren't going to bode well for him.

"Acting Global Justice General Director Du to speak with you, Agent Gruber." Kim said, handing the agent her wrist Kimmunicator. The agent took the device and walked into a secluded area of the lobby, one he made sure had a lot of cloth to absorb sound, before taking the call.

"What's wrong, Princess?" Shego asked, seeing a strange wash of emotions on the younger woman's face.

"Agent Du was…" Kim glanced from between Ron and Shego, her face screwing up in confusion, "Acting pleasant."

"Du, pleasant?" Shego quipped with a smirk, "And shouldn't you say, 'Acting Dire-…" Shego started, but Kim's raised finger stopped her.

"Wade mentioned something, but I'd rather not talk about it openly." Kim mentioned, and Shego nodded at Kim's suddenly sober, almost cold tone. The red-head drew a breath and let it out, smirking slightly, "As for pleasant, yeah... He wasn't acting like he had a stick in place of his backbone, and... He had a Southern accent?"

"Huh..." Shego said, a curious eyebrow raised as she gazed at Kim, "That _would_weird most people out..." Before she could elucidate, Agent Gruber's nervous voice interrupted, drawing their attention to him.

"I'm…" Agent Gruber had a look that mixed confusion, worry and relief on his face. He switched to surprisingly clear English, as he'd noticed Kim's mild struggles with German, "I'm sorry about the mistake, Ma'am."

"Got everything cleared up, huh?" Shego asked with a faux sweet tone and smile. Kim elbowed her lightly in the side, drawing a squawk from the older woman, a chuckle from Ron and a hesitant smile from the German GJ agent.

"Yes!" he said as Shego turned a sour look his way, "And I'm to help you move your things to alternative lodgings after you've arranged them."

"That should be fine…" Shego glanced at Kim and Ron, smiling lightly as they both nodded, "Standard European undercover vehicle? Sedan or Touring?"

"Um…" Agent Gruber reached up and scratched the back of his neck, "Yes, it is, and it's a 5 Series... Touring."

"Good, you can pull it around to the front, here!" Shego actually seemed rather pleased as the young man turned and almost literally ran for the front door. She turned towards the reception desk, directing a comment over her shoulder at Kim and Ron, "I'll be back in a minute, gotta get my stuff brought up."

"Sure." Ron said, and Kim nodded in agreement, waiting for Shego halfway between the reception desk and the front doors.

"Hey, sweetie," Shego called in English to the receptionist. She was uncertain why she had, but catching the raised eyebrow from Kim, she couldn't help but think it was a good decision. _Something to tease her with later…_she concluded, smiling as she realized her nickname had earned a light blush from the manager, "D'you think you can have someone bring my things over to the main entrance?"

"N-no problem, Miss G-…" she paused and glanced at the screen. She quickly corrected herself with a slightly more intense blush, "Miss Shego!"

"Shego's fine." the former thief announced easily, winking and turning away with a slight extra sway to her hips.

"You're incorrigible," Kim sighed as Shego sauntered back to where she was standing, "You know that, right?"

"Of course!" Shego laughed lightly, "If incorrigible means that I'm dead sexy…" She paused at the Kim's raised eyebrow and the slight concern that sparkled deep in red-head's eyes. "Okay, yeah, but y'know, I'm still a touch tipsy, _she_ doesn't seem to have issue one with my appearance, you _have_ to admit she's cute as hell… And looks _damn_good in that suit!"

Kim glanced over and caught sight of the woman as she dealt with a customer that had come down to ask a few questions. The woman was very professional, but open and friendly in a fashion that indicated it wasn't just an air she put on for work. She _was_quite pretty, but with her attitude and mid-back length twin braids, it was more in a manner similar to Tara.

"Yeah, she _is_pretty, cute." Kim agreed with an ease that surprised her. She felt a blush trying to rise, and she hid it with a bit of misdirection and gave Shego a considering look. She briefly followed the older woman's gaze and saw it was planted firmly on the manager's rear end. The former thief's eyes seemed glued there as the manager walked from behind the reception desk to help the elderly woman that had asked for her assistance, "But I think you're more attracted to her voice and rear end, if your eyes are any indication!"

"Touché, Princess…" Shego chuckled with an assessing gaze of her own, "Definitely grew some claws in college!"

"I guess." Kim shrugged, then pursed her lips as she glanced towards the front doors, wondering when the GJ agent would be there. "Anyway, Shego, what makes you so happy about the GJ undercover ride?"

"They're not Crown Vics, Luminas or Magnums over here, Princess…" Shego murmured smugly, "Since the offices here in Germany tend to like keeping their vehicle choices close to home, and since this is Munich, it's probably gonna be a BMW, most likely a 5-series wagon."

"That's what you meant by 'Touring'?" Ron asked, catching the security consultant off guard.

"Yup." She said after a brief stare, shrugging "It's what BMW calls wagons over here."

"So you're fine now, just 'cause you get to ride in a luxury car." Kim's tone and the attempt at a half scowl should have indicated annoyance with Shego's attitude, but the smirk adorning the other side of her lips gave lie to that supposition.

"Hey, it's a Bimmer, Pumpkin." Shego quipped with a grin, "Even the basic cop cars are nice inside, even if they're all cloth and vinyl. But I've gotta hand it to GJ Europe's Munich branch: they treat their undercover guys in style!"

"All leather and contrivance features?" Ron's tone was almost like a puppy with a new treat.

"Convenience!" Kim snapped with a snicker, giving Ron a sound slap on the shoulder.

"Hey!" Ron protested, holding his shoulder as if she'd drilled him with all of her strength, "That stings, y'know!"

"Uh, huh…" Shego scoffed, her voice dropping into a sickeningly coy tone, "Big, bad, world saving super-monkey ninja running back can't take a little tough love from his girlfriend?"

"Fiancée, actually!" Kim snickered, ignoring Ron's indignant complaint as she held up her left hand to Shego's appraising eye.

"First, I'm kinda feeling stupid for missing it 'til now," Shego muttered in a self-deprecating tone, "And second? That's beautiful…" Shego's honest declaration drew a happy flush from Kim as the older woman admired the workmanship - not to mention her estimation of the price - of the ring. The shank was somewhat wide for an engagement ring, but not overly so, and was made from titanium. While titanium wasn't as expensive as, say, platinum, the amount of workmanship that had gone into the band more than compensated for that.

The ring's shank seemed to be made of two layers, though upon closer inspection she realized it was a carved, single piece. The section closest to the skin was solid and unadorned, though Shego suspected there would be a jeweler's hallmark, and the edges were perfectly smooth and rounded. The outer half of the ring's shank was covered with what seemed like a herringbone pattern made of four ribbon's of braided titanium. The effect of the carving was such that they seemed to grow from the inner half.

The carved braid was a natural titanium color across the middle section, and the outer two sections were anodized to an antique gold color. The ribbons seemed to wind around the ring until reaching the shoulders of the setting where they became a platform that held two separate gemstones. On one side was a small, but perfectly shaped and lustrous pearl, and on the other was a highly polished opal. _Birthstones!_she realized in a flash of insight.

The ring's highlight was the setting, a breathtakingly clear, pink diamond. She knew it was cut to so-called ideal standards by the clarity and fire in the gem's heart, and guessed the size to be at or just above one carat. Then the shape of the cut struck her, and she barely held off a giggle, but her eyes told the story when she glanced at Kim over the red-head's hand.

"Aerospace grade?" she asked when Kim opened her mouth, cutting the red-head off by looking at Ron.

"Of course." Ron smiled brightly, pleased that yet another person seemed to find the ring a great choice, "Cost a pretty penny, but it was _completely_worth it for KP…"

"That," Shego said with a playful grimace, "Was sickeningly sweet… And _so_you, Ronnie!"

"And before you ask," Kim glanced back at Ron with an unreadable expression, before leveling a look as if to dare Shego to say something, "_Ronnie_ got the diamond based on _your_nickname for me."

"O-oh, r-r-really?" Shego stuttered, having to literally bite her lips for several seconds before she could continue, all while Kim's expression darkened in annoyance and the blush on her face deepened. "S-sorry… Seriously, sorry, Pr-… Kimmie."

"For what?" the red-head smiled ruefully after a moment, "You're the one that gave him the advice on the ring and the gem color… And you were right; a princess cut was perfect for a pink diamond…"

"Yeah…" Shego nodded, remembering the conversation she'd had with Ron the prior October. "It's one of the few things I don't regret about being 'Miss Go'," her tone when she threw up air quotes was derisive, mocking and more than a little annoyed, "I'm just glad I could get his ass calmed down about the whole thing…"

"Eh, it worked out in the end." Ron shrugged, "Even if I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing when I dropped the Reverse Polarizer!"

"It was," Shego concluded, "It was. If it hadn't, well…" She paused and glanced outside, seeing the GJ agent finally pulling up out front, "Meh, ride's here. Let's just say it's all in the past, and turned out for the best, 'kay?"

"Fine by me!" Ron answered with a huge grin, and both Kim and Rufus nodded in agreement.

"So, Princess…" Shego leaned in close to Kim to whisper in her ear, "What kind of reaction did Ron get out of you with the ring?"

Kim's deep scarlet blush was as much an answer as a shock to the older woman. Shego found _herself_blushing, and almost flinched at the devilishly self-satisfied expression on the red-head's face, "Oh, let's just say I don't think he misinterpreted my answer as anything other than 'Yes!', Shego."

"I see…" Kim's answer somehow made Shego both regret her question, and want to probe for a _lot_ more information. _What the hell?_ she begged herself, _I haven't wanted to gossip about another woman's love life sin-…_

The red-head's face took on a note of deep concern as Shego's expression wavered and almost crumpled. She didn't know what she'd said, but if the mingled pain, loss and regret she saw in Shego's face were any indication, she'd said something that had truly hurt the older woman. Impulsively she reached out and grasped the security consultant's shoulder, speaking softly, "Shego, you okay?"

"I…" Shego blinked as if to stop tears and shook her head slightly, then gave Kim a distant smile, "I will be, Princess."

"You sure?" Kim's tone indicated she didn't believe Shego, but she didn't want to push. Instead she said simply, "Hey, if you need to talk, I'm here, and so's Ron."

"Ron?" Shego asked, a fragile laugh emanating from her.

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to talk to him…" Kim nodded, "He's a doofus, like you've said, but… He's a surprisingly insightful doofus, at times."

"Heh," Shego's smile became more natural, "Never thought I'd hear _you_ call _him_a doofus!"

"Well, as a friend of ours said recently," Kim smiled back, "He can't get away from it, but it's part of his charm, if you can get past some of his flakiness."

"Hey," Ron protested with a smile, "I resemble that remark!"

"Definitely!" Kim said as he and Shego began helping Agent Gruber load the older woman's belongings into the rear of the wagon. Ron stuck his tongue out at her and she couldn't resist a comment she'd heard from Alex and Tara in reference to each other several times, "Later in the week, Ronnie."

Ron grimaced and winced, Rufus shuddered theatrically on his shoulder, Shego started laughing and Agent Gruber looked between the four of them as if they were all insane. "Um, where are we going?" he asked after a long moment.

"Hausmann Suites, m'man!" Ron cheered, clapping the agent on the shoulder hard enough to make him wince.

"A nice place." he said as he rubbed the shoulder lightly, "Will you need help up?"

"Nah," Shego snickered at the man's reaction, thinking, _Ol' Ronnie must've kept up the weights after football…_Aloud she murmured, "It's what bellhops get paid for."

When Kim and Ron were seated inside the car, they could understand what Shego had meant about Munich's GJ undercover agents riding in style. The seats were comfortable and the interior was fully appointed. _And,_ Kim thought, _He has alright taste in music…_as the man tuned in a local rock station that was playing some modern metal. Shego seemed satisfied with the musical selection and began to fiddle with the passenger side power seat. It took almost ten minutes until she was half leaning back and almost three quarters of the way back to make room for her long legs up front.

Ron, who was seated behind her, glanced down as she put her arms behind her head and let out a long, content sigh. With a smirk, he glanced at Kim, and spoke loudly while gesturing threateningly towards the mint hued woman's armpits, "Y'know, if not for the fact that it'd both ruin the car and result in lots of burns, I have a perfect target there…"

"Do it and Princess'll never have a chance at children." Shego threatened in a strangely benign fashion. Even so, the agent driving them seemed worried he'd have to take action, so Kim opened her mouth to try and alleviate his worry.

Unfortunately, Ron's answer to Shego's challenge did nothing to allay their driver's concern, and made his fingers grip the steering wheel until they were white, "Awww, it's all just fun 'n' games!"

"You sure Pumpkin'd be okay with you playin' with another girl?" Shego's lazy drawl seemed purpose designed to get under Kim's skin, and the red-head could see Shego looking at her behind the barely opened slit of her eyelids. Instead of answering, she sat back with a smug smirk as Ron answered her yet again.

"That, Shego," Ron said with an air of propriety that would have done a politician proud, "Is something that'd be _entirely_up to KP."

Shego's eyes flew wide with the blunt, and entirely unexpected answer. She craned her neck back to see that, while he had a smile on his face, Ron was being completely serious. She glanced over at Kim, who had an amused, but otherwise unreadable expression on her face. Then Kim started to giggle, Ron's smirk widened significantly, and his shoulders shook with the effort to hold his amusement. "You… You…"

"Yes, Shego dear?" Ron asked as innocently as he could.

"Oh, that was _dirty_, Ron Stoppable!" she howled with laughter, not seeming to notice how Agent Gruber relaxed visibly at the general air of amusement in the car.

"Uh, huh…" Kim rolled her eyes, "And you'd know about dirty word games, am I right?"

"I'm told I'm a cunning linguist, Kimmie…" Shego quipped, before resolutely turning her face forwards once more, but not before she could see Kim blush easily below her neckline.

"I think she's got ya there, KP…" Ron snickered, earning a squeak of protest and a short series of slaps to his shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah…" Kim grumped good-naturedly.

"Oh, hey," Shego glanced over at Kim, "What did 'Actin' Direct'r Du' tell you that had you so worried, Princess?"

"You've heard him speak since the invasion?" Kim asked after laughing at Shego's startlingly accurate portrayal of Agent Du's accent.

"Nah, I knew him back when I almost joined GJ," Shego smirked, "He wasn't always walking around like he had a rebar shoved up his ass!"

"Shego!" Kim objected, shaking her head as if to ask Shego to stifle herself, but having to stifle an agreeing laugh of her own, "As for the bad news, Betty's apparently trapped in a secret room at GJ's European HQ. The door's in a location that they can't use high powered devices or explosives to break it down, though, so they've had to resort to safe cracking techniques. Apparently, they're just past the halfway point..."

Agent Gruber winced at Kim's blunt assessment, Shego let out a light curse, and both Ron and Rufus let out a soft, "Oh, no..." of concern.

"Eh, Du'll get her out, 'specially if all the rumors are true..." Shego commented, a devilish smirk on her face.

"About them being involved? You know as well as I do that even if there _is_attraction, she won't do anything while she's running GJ..." Kim admonished, earning a thankful sigh from Agent Gruber and vaguely agreeing nod and shrug from Shego. After she finished, she glanced forward and pointed, "There's the hotel…"

"Hey," Shego asked, "We gonna go back to the 'Fest, or eat first?"

"How much longer is it gonna be running?" Kim asked, glancing over at the huge Ferris wheel and the top of a rollercoaster just visible above the trees that bordered the _Theresienwiese_.

"Most tents close at eleven-thirty, 'cept for the _Kaefer's Wiesnschaenke_ and the _Wein Zelt_which're one AM, but they all stop serving at ten-thirty." She glanced at the clock on the BMW's dash and grimaced, "Great, gonna stop serving before we get back, and most of 'em will close in just over an hour and fifteen... And I dunno 'bout you two, but I'm not really in the mood for rides..."

Ron looked at Kim and raised an eyebrow, and she nodded in agreement with Shego. "Well, rides're out 'til tomorrow, so should we just skip it all 'til the morning?" Ron received affirmative nods from Kim, Shego and Rufus, "As for eating, there's _Das Himmelsicht_, which is on the fifteenth floor at the hotel, and they're open 'til like one AM…"

"I've heard it's amazing." Agent Gruber said as he pulled up to the entrance of the hotel.

"So have I." Shego agreed, then turned to the younger man, "Thanks, Groob. You're pretty alright, for an agent just out of undercover training."

"Was it that obvious?" he asked in a slightly pained tone.

"Yup!" Ron answered, slapping him lightly on the shoulder again, "But, honestly, you're better than most of the other guys I had to help train over in Japan three weeks ago!"

"_You_were their trainer, Mr. Stoppable?" Agent Gruber asked in an almost awed tone.

"Well, one of 'em, and not the senior trainer... Me and a few Japanese friends of mine." Ron thought for a moment, "Hiro was the head, and he was quite a bit harsh on some of them, mostly because they relied on technology way too much."

"I've read the after action reports." Agent Gruber replied as he helped Ron empty the car, shuddering slightly in sympathy for the agents mentioned in the report.

"They did pretty good, though." Ron shrugged a couple of Shego's duffel bags onto his shoulders and carried them to the waiting bellhop.

"Well…" Shego sighed, "Shall we get me settled in?"

"Let's!" Kim enthused before wishing the young agent well. She was unaccountably pleased with the turn of events. A very small part of her wondered what she was so happy about, considering the woman used to be her enemy. But she chose to ignore it, especially considering she considered Bonnie a close friend now, despite having known Bonnie, and had bad blood with the teal eyed beauty, for longer than she had Shego.

It was an easy conclusion that, despite the false start to the day, she'd had fun with Ronnie and Shego. She'd been able to help Shego out with the hotel situation. She'd offered to give her an ear to gnaw on if she needed to. She'd even won a couple really good bouts of teasing on the older woman! And she felt completely comfortable around her, even moreso than she'd been with 'Miss Go'.

_This is so ferociously badical! _she crowed to herself, not realizing she had the old spring in her step, or that the smile upon her face was shining brighter than it had since she'd said yes to Ron's proposal...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"So, Betty…" the lanky, brown haired man said as he walked around the control center. His face, with its bland features, plain brown eyes, framed by neutrally brown hair was imminently forgettable. This forgettable façade was added to by his clear, lightly accented English, and the neutrally interested expression on his face. "It will be easier if you'd just tell me your personal access codes, all of them, for all levels of security, don't you think?"

"You realize this is a failing gambit don't you, European Second Agent Magnusson?" The man sneered at Betty's proper form of address and the mildly disinterested expression on her face. The expression seemed completely out of place on such a bland, easily forgotten man… Until he pulled the truth ray from the belt at the rear of his uniform.

"I think otherwise…" He pursed his lips and turned the power setting to max, then turned the weapon on her. "Talk now, Betty…" his tone was cold and no longer disinterested, but final, "Or I'll rip every single secret, secrets you've forgotten, secrets you probably don't _know_you know, from that pretty little head of yours!"

Betty opened her mouth to answer, and strained against her bonds, but the yellow flash of the ray dazzled her into a brief, immobile silence. "Now, Betty, I'm going to test just how effective the ray is…" he chuckled, a dark, malevolent sound, and replaced the truth ray to his belt, "Tell me, Dr. Director… There are rumors, and I'd like them to be confirmed…"

"Yes, there are rumors." Betty admitted, barely keeping a smile off of her face.

"Hmmm… Quite effective, isn't it?" He ignored Betty's affirmative answer, and decided on a few simple questions. "Is it true, Betty, that you had a more than professional relationship with Shea Gottlieb?"

"Yes," Betty admitted, "She was a close friend of mine before the events that led to her leaving Team Go."

"Were you…" He searched for the right words for a moment, before smirking, deciding to draw her humiliation out. "Were you romantically or sexually attached to her?"

"I was not romantically or sexually attached to her." Betty's tone was cold, a white hot fury visible in the depths of her eye.

"Were you attracted to her in either way?" The man seemed to be on the verge of laughing, but Betty's answer stifled his amusement quickly.

"I am not, nor have I ever been, interested in women, romantically or sexually." Betty answered with a slight grin touching her lips, "I prefer _men_, not girls or boys like yourself."

"Touché…" the man's face screwed up into a frown, "Very well, then, what men have you had interest in, or that you _are_interested in, in a romantic and sexual manner, at this point in time."

"My first and second husbands," she commented with an agonized expression taking to her face.

"Ah, so…" he drew out almost gently, "No others?"

"Yes." Betty answered, hoping that would be enough to satisfy the man.

"Yes?" He turned an angry expression on her face, fingering the Taser on his wrist, "Unless you didn't notice, you're in your skivvies. I'd suggest answering fully!" He took three long, deep breaths, "So, yes… Yes to your ex-husband and the late husband having been the only men in your lives, or yes there are others? And if there are others, tell me who they are and details about the relationship!"

Betty truly tried to lie. But she knew better, and the mild pain of trying to force her mind to comply let her know the price she'd pay. _Damn, I really shouldn't have asked Drew for that addition!_

"Yes, there are others." Betty said tightly, biting her lips and tongue hard enough that she tasted blood.

"And…" Magnusson asked in a drawn out fashion, all but giggling at the pained grimace on Betty's features.

"Durant Depardieu," Betty finally gasped out, having been trying to hold her breath until unconsciousness. Unfortunately, the compulsion engendered by the improved truth ray forced the words from her before she could succeed. "I dated him before I out-paced him in rank, relationship ended mutually and amicably. Martin Smarty, mutual interest for a short time, but my position within Global Justice precluded a relationship. Midas, professional masseur, I have had sexual relations with him nine times, mutual interest physically, emotionally friendly but I only consider him an occasional 'friend with benefits'. Global Justice Second Agent, Basil William Du, romantic and sexual interest pre-dating being a superior officer in his direct chain of command, recently rekindled on my part. Apparent mutual interest, and I have plans to approach him if I am indeed made the civilian liaison for Global Justice."

"Fascinating!" he chortled, "Tell me more…"

"There is nothing more to tell." Betty answered, crowing internally as she realized a small workaround for the ray. So long as she had some basis for the truth, she _could_stretch it, however slightly. "Agent Du and I are in the same direct chain of command."

"So you can't even flirt?" the man queried, frowning in disappointment.

"Only in very a very subtle fashion…" Betty drew out, then in a flash of inspiration struck, inspiration she did not ignore, "Although I have become less subtle as my retirement as GJ Director General comes due…" _Hopefully whoever this smug bastard uses to replace me will screw up..._

"Hmmm, very fascinating." The man pondered for a few moments, shrugging lightly, "A pity, but useful."

"Yes." Betty answered, cursing herself for her slip and the addition her mouth put in place, "I don't see how this information could be construed as useful."

"Thank you for confirming your thoughts on your relationship with Agent Du... It _is_ a pity, just as I'm sure you're a bright woman, and you'll figure things out!" he smirked, staring off at only something he could see, "But only later, Betty, only later... Honestly, though, I can't blame you for being interested in Du… He _is_cute, and has quite the nice, tight ass, doesn't he?"

"What?" Betty was confused. She'd seen his psych reports, interviews, even sent people that were, to say the least, experts on seduction, an-… _He's _not_ Magnusson!_She had no real proof. Not a shred of evidence. In fact, most of the evidence had been pointing at him or someone high within his department being the guilty party! But…

Sixteen years of experience in the politics of the job, and nearly twenty years of experience working first with, and then for, GJ itself were screaming at her. Screaming loud enough that she voiced her opinion with a confident smirk, despite her situation, "You're not GJ Europe's Magnusson…"

"Oh, but how could you tell?" the man asked in a surprisingly coy fashion, "Always were sharp… I'm honestly surprised you sent…" He paused, twisting his lips into a caricature of a smile, his eyes lighting with a flash of what could only be considered cruelty, "Ah, but then again, I'm surprised you even see anything with just one eye. Tell me, Betty… Why do you wear that eye patch?"

Betty felt a surge of near panic. The eye patch, and what was underneath, would be the one way a total of three people in all of GJ, perhaps even all the world, would be able to use to discover any kind of impostor. Granted, this faux Magnusson could have looked, or could look in the future, but the patch felt to be in the same spot… Taking a deep breath, hoping she sounded more disgusted with the question than panicked by it, she spoke in a low monotone, "Because I can't see out of it."

She waited, expecting the pain, and was rewarded when her slight rewording of the true and honest answer didn't need expounding upon, nor did it introduce migraine levels of pain into her skull. The man standing before her sighed, "Betty, Betty, _Betty_! You know better than that. Why do you wear it? Is the eye patch… Necessary?"

Betty barely fought off a triumphant laugh. "Of course it's necessary!" she answered, continuing the thought within her own mind, _Just like high seas pirates of old, I like to have the old Mark-I eyeball covered to improve my night vision in case technological night vision is disabled or unavailable!_

"Must've hurt…" the faux Magnusson cooed gently, "I couldn't imagine, but despite everything, I think I'll believe you… After all, you're under the effects of this lovely truth ray... And you're a _woman_, and _all_women like to keep at least the illusion of vanity, even in the face of such a disfigurement…"

"Yes," Betty agreed, "That's very true." Even herself, despite all but being married to her job, she liked to keep in shape, and to look good, even with an eye patch on her face at almost all times.

"Ah, but enough of this!" the man's declaration came with a firm slapping of his hands upon the desk beside him, "Your men and women out there will get through that door in about seventy minutes... Betty, I'd like you to tell me exactly all of the information I want to know. Everything I'll need to know to run this outfit and be like you! Codes, people, everything I'll need to mimic you without being caught."

Betty attempted to rebel, but feeling like someone was scratching steel wool across the inside of her skull was too much. She found her mind ordering her life into what amounted to a character actor's dossier on a person, even as the replacement for Magnusson gave her another order, "As well, I need everything you have on your brother, Sheldon Director, aka Gemini… _Everything_…"

Betty felt a cold, horrid lump of dread congeal in her guts with the man's last order. "You worthless bastard!" Betty growled, losing control for the first time in many years, "When I get free, I'll make sure your life is _hell_!"

"Oh, but you already _have_, Betty…" the man's face seemed to melt, and Betty's face fell into shock too deep to comprehend the impact of what she saw before her, "By my very _nature_I'm a supervillain, but you couldn't even try and keep me in your prisons, away from the… Less savory common criminals…

"And now? Thanks to Magnusson," the figure threw a switch on the screen, showing Magnusson in a medical suspension vault, next to a huge, but condensation shrouded figure in another suspension vault, "And his being a mole for your dear brother for years… I have all the cards I need to set me up for life, when everything's said and done…"

"What? Impsosible!" Betty objected, continuing in a hurt, even apologetic tone, "I tried to keep you out of the regular prison population! But my hands were tied and I couldn't do anything because my superiors agreed that your crimes were considered 'common criminal activity below the supervillain threshold'! I even warned them you'd be impossible to hold…"

The wild cackle that answered Betty's loud protests chilled the one eyed woman's bones, as did the reply to her protestations, "Oh, you _have_ to be telling the truth… This is _beautiful_…" The voice, raised and half maddened, rang back from the depths of the cavernous room, "They wanted me to be more of a supervillain, eh? Well, I guess what's coming is all your superior's fault! You see, Betty, by the time I'm done, I'll have brought down Global Justice and everyone, _everyone_connected to them!"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Hey, Boss!" the new henchman cried, his American accent almost grating on the Russian villainess' nerves. That HenchCo had been able to help her out so quickly was appreciated, but the very fact that she had been forced to hire henches was grating. But she'd had no choice; neither she nor her partner could get everything to a clean car with Swiss plates, and take a covert ferry over the Swiss border. _We should have said 'No!' to lifting that safe from that bakery... We barely got it into our old car by ourselves!_She glanced about the hidden docks at the edge of Lake Constance, then across the nearly eleven kilometers between Germany and Switzerland nervously.

"What?" she growled, trying to control her accent as best she could under the circumstances. Her passport, after all, showed her as being from America.

"We got a problem…" the man reached into his coat and removed a new HenchCo device, an expanding stun staff. "We got someone airborne, comin' in fast, and not bothering to hide their signature!"

"Vhat did I tell you?" her German partner called, not bothering to hide her accent since her passport claimed she was a German student preparing to travel to America, "I zaid dzey vould find us!"

"How do you know the-…" The Russian began, only to be interrupted by a booming, Spanish accented voice.

"Alas, villains!" an electronically disguised, masculine voice said, "It is known that you were part of the theft attempt in Munich and the theft of a safe from a bakery in Memmingen this morning, so I must ask you to stop what you are doing, or I will be forced to use violence…"

They all looked up and gasped at the sight they beheld. Hovering perhaps fifteen meters up was a man in a tailored, form fitting white suit. The suit was sleek and minimalist, what seams there were gave the suit a dashing, heroic flair. Along the major seams was subtle piping, grey along the arms and shoulder and blue along the legs and hips.

There were also pieces of articulated, hardened armor protecting the elbows, knees, shoulders, groin, instep and chest, all of which had a thin line of teal around the outer edges, similar in size and location to the piping along the cloth of his uniform. Along his shin, the top of his hands and the outer length and top of his forearms – the left also bearing some kind of computer interface - were non-articulating pieces of hardened armor.

Aside from the piping, all of the armor was colored black, except for a royal purple square upon his chest, where there was a gold, inverted equilateral triangle with an 'X' in the center. Upon his back, and apparently an integral part of the suit was a high tech backpack, with small winglets sticking out of the side and tiny, but apparently powerful and efficient jets holding him in the air.

All in all, he cut a quite imposing figure, especially with the shoulder mounted, articulating device that looked for all the world like a weapon barrel. The Russian woman wasn't keen on finding out if it was indeed a weapon. "Are you kidding me?" she screamed in frustration, "Deal with him!"

"Wrong answer!" another electronically disguised voice called out, this time feminine. The Russian looked to her left and received a hard right to the jaw as a woman slightly shorter than her burst from the undergrowth at the side of the road. Her suit, aside from the obvious feminine shape to the chest plate, differed in that there was the letter 'M' in the triangle on her chest.

"Anya!" the German called out. She reached around to her back to grab a more traditional, extending titanium baton and moved forward. Before she could get more than a step a hand that was as firm as iron gripped her wrist, and she found her arm being pulled behind her back. "Henches, get the-…"

"They have been, how would you say, dealt with?" the man who had grabbed her arm answered, and she got the distinct impression he was asking seriously, and not as banter. He was also armored, and the letter in the triangle on his chest was a 'P'. He made quick work of tying her up with zip-tie cuffs before glancing around the area as the Russian had only moments earlier.

"Indeed they have, Pipes…" the man still flying above them all said over their private communications network, his voice holding a note of concern as opposed to triumph.

"A bit too easily, perhaps…" Pipes wondered as the suited woman went about cuffing the Russian thief with zip-ties cuffs, "What do you think, Mechanic?"

"Yeah…" Mechanic grimaced under her helmet, dragging the unconscious and now bound Russian deeper into the hardened carport they had been preparing to depart from. "Anything up high, X?"

"No, my dear…" He answered, slowly raising himself and activating his cloaking devices, "I shall keep watch from on high, perhaps you could check the ground close to your area?"

"Got it…" she answered, flexing her long, obviously athletic legs and shoving herself into the air, a brief flare from her jets taking her to the top of the car the thieves had prepared to cross the border in. _Old man's thoughts on where they were going were perfect! If they'd have gotten to Switzerland, we wouldn't have had any ground to stand on to bring 'em back to Germany, heroes or not…_

"Do you see anything, Mechanic?" Pipes asked as he pulled the other thief and their henchmen behind cover to await the Global Justice agent that had followed the thieves and members of Germany's _Bundeskriminalamt_.

Mechanic opened her mouth to answer as movement on the shore caught her attention, "I thin-…" She barely dodged out of the way as a burst of gunfire sprayed gravel and shrubbery from the area she'd been standing. "That's hard ammo!" she yelled immediately.

She was shocked, but it wasn't just the fact that they'd opened up with firearms; after the Lorwardian Invasion, some of the more fringe groups had started coming back into play, using 'hard ammunition' that villains disdained. No, it was the fact that the rounds striking into the vehicle were _piercing_the vehicle through and through that got her attention. "It's MIL-SPEC AP rounds!" she added angrily as she dove from behind the vehicle the thieves had been using towards the relative safety of the hardened bunker.

The only thing that had warned her had been her suit's proximity alarm. On her helmet mounted display she saw the fading lines that backtracked the weapons fire to its source. She quickly tapped something into her forearm interface as the fire walked its way along the top of the carport, setting the backtrack traces to low transparency and putting her suit in stealth mode too.

She tongued a button on the inside of her helmet, and the world turned completely green, white and black as she dialed up the night vision capabilities of her suit's display to maximum. She carefully edged around the chewed up edge of the carport as the fire slackened and glanced out, before tossing a loose rock out and above the carport's roof, well away from her position.

Immediately the guns opened up again, and she crowed in delight. "I see them!" she cried as she spotted a high tech looking boat about one hundred and fifty meters from the shore. It was a catamaran design, and relatively large for a boat; a shade under seventeen meters long, a little under four high above the water and had a beam of about five and a half meters. The hull was designed with an exceedingly low draft, and what railings and superstructure was visible was angled oddly and painted, or electro-chromatically colored to match the sea surrounding them.

"It's obviously a stealth ship…" she said as the relayed some other information, "There's at _least_four weapons on the damn thing, but they might have more of those hidden turrets. X, you got 'em?"

"I do, my dear!" he answered, dropping his suit's stealth and flying forwards at full thrust, going on a wild evasion course even before the boat saw him. As soon as they did, all four weapons stations opened up, bathing the path to the boat with their fire, "A distraction would be helpful, however…"

"I shall try!" Pipes called, diving from cover towards the hardened, camouflaged bunker that housed a radio station as well as the dock's public address system. He managed a meandering, if quick course across the open space, and managed to dodge the fire as one of the guns stopped firing long enough to drop down and open up on him.

"Be careful, dammit!" Mechanic called out worriedly, and called out in an even more worried tone when she heard the PA system's volume turn up high enough to produce buzzing feedback, "Oh, no, no, no! Don't you do it, Pipes!"

Her almost angry, worried voice was quickly drowned out by a quick, funky samba beat. A half a bar later, a horrifying, warbling tone as the man inside the bunker began to sing in an indistinct, wordless fashion. _I'm going to have words with that crazy hacker for even _suggesting_ this as a suitable distraction!_

Mechanic realized instantly that he had turned the radio on as well, but based on her suit's readings, while the signal was being broadcast across most of the radio frequency range, the gain on the antenna was just enough to reach perhaps two hundred meters out; far enough to reach the boat, but not far enough to interfere with traffic on the road or with air traffic. _Thank God he listened to _all_ of that li'l nerd's advice!_

On the shore, half a dozen suited figures fell from their carefully chosen paths to the bunker. They covered their ears, the sound so stunningly horrible and unexpected that they forgot they were wearing suits. Mechanic jumped up and went airborne, intent on following X, "Pipes, six out here, take 'em out ASAP; I'm gonna flashbang them before joining X!"

"¡Un momento!" he sang, the tones somehow coming across fairly cleanly, before turning back to the PA to belt out a few more stomach churning notes. Mechanic dropped a dozen flash grenades near all of the targets in the bushes and shrubbery along the lake, making sure that they would get a face full of blinding light when the time came.

The distraction seemed to work quite handily for the ship as well. The operators of the weapons seemed to be quite human, and were apparently all tuned into radios. The fire quickly went wild before the computers controlling the guns realized the fire was no longer controlled and ceased operating.

With the human controllers no longer working the targeting systems, and the targeting systems not set to automatically fire upon threats, the guns tracked the flying hero until he was within their firing arcs. There was a bright flash from the shore, and he glanced back when he landed to see Pipes dealing with several disoriented looking foes. When he landed on the rear deck, just above the closed hatch, X called out in a pained but tolerant voice, "Very good distraction, Pipes…"

"Thank you, X!" Pipe's called back with slightly labored breathing, the sounds of his fists striking his opponents being transferred over his microphone.

The sound of the hatch opening drew X's attention. "Where you at you armored motherfu-…" the man coming out of the hatch didn't finish his curse, as a powerful hook kick from X knocked him out cold. The kick caught the man just under the edge of his SPECTRA helmet, right above the cheekbone, and his Heckler & Koch HK417 battle rifle fell from his hands.

"Such language…" X muttered despairingly, dropping down to snatch up the battle rifle and swiftly storming into the boat where he was met by two more men preparing to rush onto the deck. They both attempted to bring their own battle rifles to bear, but their proximity in the narrow companionway caused them to get tangled up in each other's arms and weapons harnesses. X took advantage of their confusion and bulled into them, even as he heard the jets of Mechanic's suit pushing hard towards the ship.

"Gentlemen!" X's vaguely aristocratic voice called out over his suit's PA system, almost deafening in the confined space of the control cabin. He made quick work of the two goons he'd tackled, taking one of their rifles and quickly clicking the rate of fire from semiautomatic to fully automatic. "Since the commandos you sent ashore seem to be the only effective combatants on this boat, I do believe you shouldn't move…"

"Wha's goin' on 'ere?" a man hollered as he stood, obviously in charge despite the lack of insignia on his uniform. He was an Irishman by his accent, short and bulky of build, with salt and pepper hair, hard grey eyes and a very distinguished nose.

"I believe you're soon to be under arrest, my good fellow…" X growled back, "Assaulting heroes in the line of duty? And with ammunition normally sanctioned outside of military bases, war or paramilitary police organizations?" He shook his head and waved a hand towards the man's seat. The Irishman stiffened, but slowly sat, his eyes glancing about the cabin, then shot over X's shoulder.

"My dear," X called out to Mechanic, "Could you check the ship through the aft passages and give me a video feed? I believe I know the type of craft this is, and I'd like some confirmation…"

"Speakin' o' arrest," the Irishman grated, "I believe yir gonna be th' ones arrested 'ere…"

X narrowed his eyes, thankful they were invisible behind the dark visor of his suit, and pursed his lips. He was quite certain he was not going to be, even as his suspicions about the craft were confirmed by the video relay of Mechanic's efficient, if cursory reconnaissance. He was a man quite experienced with various seagoing vessels, from super tankers and cargo ships costing over one hundred million U.S. dollars to two passenger fishing boats costing less than two hundred U.S. dollars.

_A Mark II, Super Heavy Assault Boat, Stealth._ the man concluded easily, frowning slightly. Only four national military, one extra-governmental paramilitary and a few contractor agencies used the design. There were a total of twenty four in service, and as Mechanic passed her camera over the builder's plate, he grunted in confirmation. _Number Six… So this is a UNSC boat…_ He ran through the stats of the craft in his head, and what modifications this specific boat had.

As with all SHABS, this had a rigid, composite catamaran hull, with interlocking, super-lightweight ceramic composite plating as both armor and stiffener, additional foam stiffeners between that and the inner layers of composite for flexibility, all co-moulded together during construction. The engines normally made just over one thousand horsepower, but this model had almost fifteen hundred, and could propel the craft to nearly sixty knots, as opposed to the normal fifty. Even so, it would be whisper quiet even at full tilt. The radar cross-section was negligible, and integrated chromatic paint, with this model's additional integrated hull heating and cooling allowed for extreme difficulty to spot in any weather conditions.

How the man knew the ship's schematics intimately was because a company he was a member of had built the amazing craft… Originally for the UN's most secret special operations teams. "I have the men on the shore dealt with and very immobilized, X."

Pipes' happy voice coming in through the private comm. line brought X out of his thoughts, and he grunted satisfactorily. "Very good, Pipes!" he called back over the private channel, his voice overflowing with pride, "Please do get in contact with Mr. Load and tell him we have a… Situation? And that it might be for the best if he contacted Global Justice. Mechanic, could you go back on deck and keep watch for other wathercraft or aircraft, my dear? I will keep station with the apparent captain here…"

"'Course, X… And that was an awesome job, Pipes!" Mechanic, if anything, sounded even prouder of Pipes than X had, and she had a spring in her step as she dashed up the companionway to the deck.

"Tell me, gentlemen…" X spoke over his PA system again, his tone dark as he turned back to the men in the boat, "What is a full strike team of highly secret United Nations Security Council Special Operations Command commandos doing at the south of Lake Constance attacking thieves that are card carrying members of the International Villains and Supervillains Union and HenchCo henches? You do, of course, realize that this means they are under UN Charter protections on Heroics, Superheroics, Villainy and Supervillainy?"

"What?" the commander of the ship hollered while standing, "Are y'daft, man? They're smugglin' nukes, y'foolish wannabe 'ero!"

"They most certainly are not!" X roared, his amplified voice making the man wince and sit with a loud thump. "We have it on apparently better authority than you that they are mere thieves. Global Justice had an agent tracking them, but as they were a paranoid group _and_ outnumbered said agent, they called _us_ in to help out!" X stalked forward, his imposing form made more so by the battle rifle cradled knowledgeably in his hands, "Thus, their actions fall only under the purview or Global Justice _or_ heroes _or_ superheroes, and _only_ Global Justice _or_ heroes _or_superheroes have jurisdiction over them! And since they were not undercutting the bounds of villainy or supervillainy into standard criminal activity, or overstepping into terrorism, you could not, legally, take the actions you have!"

X took several back and leaned against the companionway's railing as he awaited word from Wade. After a moment, he received more than he'd bargained for, and felt a devilishly evil smile curl on his lips. "Gentleman, please tune to channel Golf-Juliet-One-One-One-Three-point-Seven-Seven, what was the authorization, Mr. Load? Ah, yes, Golf-Juliet-Sierra-Charlie, Charlie-Lima, Hilo-Quebec-Delta-Golf, authorization Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot-One-Three-Niner-Niner-Zulu-Zulu-Tango-Three."

The commander blanched and turned to his radio operator to find the man already commencing the proper telecom handshake. The handshake went without a hitch, opening the Global Justice secure channel communications line to the General Director of Global Justice Operations. He swallowed as a very stern looking man with Asian features came on the communications screen. "This's Actin' Director General Du, Capt'n O'Byrne, what th' situation? Why are you attacking known members of the International Villains and Supervillains Union?"

He seemed, for a brief second to have the calm, cool composure for all the nearly sneering smirk he wore indicated. After three seconds of silence, however, his nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed dangerously. X had seen this man's face before, many times, in fact, and he had never seen it sink outside of that very same veneer of arrogance, and he smiled underneath his visor, _It seems Agent Du has finally grown up!_

"I asked you a question, Captain!" Acting Director Du snapped, the light accent he had harbored a moment before burried by the iron control he now kept on his voice, "I expect an answer. Yesterday."

"We're followin' orders, Sir!" Captain O'Byrne answered nervously.

"_Whose_orders, Captain?" Acting Director Du asked in a drawn out manner. X had the distinct impression that he was watching a cat prepared to pounce on a hypnotized mouse, so unlike what he was used to seeing from the young man.

"Um, Sir…" the Irishman gulped, "T'was… T'was orders direct fr'm th' EU Commissi'n on Terrorism an' fr'm th' EU Director've GJ, Sir…"

"When?" the Asian man's voice was, if anything, calmer.

X forced himself not to gulp like Captain O'Byrne had, _He seems ready for his position now, and I would not have thought that possible four months ago…_

"Abou' two hours ago…" Captain O'Byrne said nervously, getting the distinct impression that he had just made a major, and not entirely positive, mistake.

"Impossible!" Acting Director Du growled, "Director Depardieu has been by my side for the last nine hours, and not once has he called in a strike against IVaSvU members!" Du took a deep breath. "Fortunately, Captain, there are a string of such orders recently, so I will consider this when I consider punitive measures… As of now, however, you will immediately break off whatever operation you're on, and return to your drop ship. From there, you will immediately return to Global Justice headquarters, and not go anywhere else. This is on my order, do you understand?"

"Yessir!" the Irishman gulped, and glanced at X, "I… I'm terribly sorry about the… Misunderstanding…"

"I'm sure…" X replied drolly, then turned to the screen, "Agent… My apologies, _Acting Director_Du, I presume that, considering the situation, we will have to let the thieves and henches go?"

"I'm 'fraid so," Acting Director Du sighed, shaking his head tiredly. His accent slipping back in showed just how tired he was, and X felt a strong wash of sympathy for the man, as he looked to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, "Ah'll leave a number wit' Wade t'give 'em proper comp'nsation by the 'propriate innermed'aries. Do see if y'can get th' safe from 'em, if ya could, X?"

"Of course." X said with a half bow, "Good luck, Acting Director Du…" He flipped the battle rifle to safe and leaned it against the railing, before giving the captain a half bow himself, "If you could come to shore, Captain, The Upperclassmen will be happy to return your men to you. They are unconscious and bound, but otherwise unharmed."

"A'course, Mr. X…" Captain O'Byrne griped, "This's a helluva day…"

"Indeed…" X muttered as he walked up the companionway, "Indeed…"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Half an hour later, the superhero team known as The Upperclassmen was in the mechanics bay of their transport, which they'd dubbed 'The Study Hall'. It combined the luxuries of a corporate CEO's private jet with the high tech amenities of a mobile workshop for their suits that the villain Motor Ed would have been proud of. It also had the communications, command, control and computer functions of an AWACS aircraft. They were currently airborne and on their way back to their home base, the aircraft's cutting edge autopilot system following the pre-programmed route easily.

"That was, as Ron Stoppable would say, Badical!" the superhero known as Pipes crowed as he removed his quickly set about smoothing his helmet hair back into the normally smooth, even style he preferred.

"Oh, God…" the helmetless Mechanic griped with an excited grin on her beautiful face. She giggled and leaned in to give the man a firm kiss on the lips, "Don't you go turning into my Ron, baby…"

"No worries there, Bonnie…" Señor Senior, Junior smiled down at his wife, "It is a good phrase though, is it not?"

"Yes, it is, my son…" Señor Senior, Senior smiled at his son and daughter-in-law, his smile widening as Bonnie nodded in agreement, "And it was, despite the unexpected interference and lackluster ending, a success!"

"It just sucks that they got away because we _had_to let 'em go, Daddy." Bonnie fumed, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting slightly.

"And not unexpected." the older man admonished, "It happened with Junior and I a few times when it was not Kimberly chasing us… And at least they agreed to part with the safe they purloined from that bakery!"

"Yes, that was good. And Father has a point, Bonnie. The army troops, they overreact sometimes." Junior agreed, wincing as he stripped from the tight fitting suit to the shock absorbing under-suit, which looked for all the world like a pair of full body long johns, "And these are good against even small caliber armor piercing rounds, but the shock from those rounds, it's far worse than regular bullets!"

"You got hit?" Bonnie asked, suddenly more concerned than she had been, even when under fire.

"It was just one of the rifles, love!" Junior tried to protest, but stopped as he saw Bonnie put her hands on her hips. He knew she wouldn't be happy until she'd seen to the wound herself, so he sighed, trying to offer some explanation for being hit, "One of the men you blinded may have opened fire with his rifle?" Bonnie gave her husband a fulminating glare at the questioning tone in his voice, and he sighed, "It was blind fire, my Bonnie… I promise it only makes my skin and muscles sore."

"I'll be the judge of that!" she snapped as she stalked forward and unsealed the high tech zipper replacement for the under-suit. She took a moment searching his torso, then stared at the angry purple and yellow bruise just below his right shoulder blade. "Looks like it hit just below the armor…" She gently prodded at it, earning a light gasp and slight wince from her husband, but nothing more.

"Wow…" Bonnie breathed, "These suits _are_ good…" She backed off, and gently hugged her husband, "But you are going to have to be more careful…" She glanced at her father and pulled away from Junior, her hands once again on her hips as she gave significant attention to the pauldron of Triple-S' suit, "_Both_of you!"

"What?" Triple-S asked, then glanced at his shoulder. The armored piece had a slight gouge taken out of it, but was otherwise unharmed, "That is unexpected. I didn't even feel it when it hit…" He shrugged and quickly stripped to his protective under-layer, hanging his armor from the suit diagnostic, repair and storage system.

Bonnie sighed heavily, turning her eyes heavenwards and holding her hands up imploringly. After a moment she turned back to her husband and father-in-law, "We're going to do _more_training when we get back!" She got up and stormed over to the storage and diagnostic station, removing her combat suit and hanging it up.

"But we were going to go shopping on the Champs-Élysé-…" Junior began, but a hard glare from his wife and a gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"My son," Triple-S said quietly, a reminiscent smile upon his face, "There are times when it is best to just agree with the woman who owns your heart instead of opposing her."

"Besides," Bonnie smiled sweetly, "We can go shopping as a reward for continued _successful_training!"

"Very well…" Junior sighed with a mock pout, before smiling, "Besides, I get to see you in this lovely outfit more, so I cannot complain!"

"You get to see me _naked_, Junior…" Bonnie raised a challenging eyebrow at her husband, and he smiled, "How is this any better?"

"Yes, I do, love," he agreed, "But, it is not that it is better? It is just that sometimes, it is what is hidden that is sexier than what is not…" He thought for a moment, before adding, "But I shall never be able to complain about seeing you either way."

"He's learning, Daddy…" Bonnie sighed as she leaned in to kiss her husband, and Triple-S smiled easily at their antics.

"I'll be taking a shower and changing," he called as he went forward, "I'll call you two when I'm done in case you're… Occupied."

"Daddy!" Bonnie protested, blushing brightly as the old man walked forward, a positively evil chuckle floating back to her and Junior.

**Author's Notes**

Hmmm... What's goin' on with Shego's room, and possibly more important, what's goin' on with Shego? Is she alright? Is she thinking straight? Well... There'll be an answer to that in an upcoming chapter...

Then there's Betty and her situation. Quite a pickle, it sounds like... And who is it if it's not GJ Europe's second in command?

And then... There's the Upperclassmen... 'Nuff said, non?

Thanks go out to Neo the Saiyan Angel for flow/feel beta work, and catching some of the more glaring issues. Speaking of Neo, I'm helping her with a fic with her called "A Touch of Warmth", a story of Mim Possible and what could have happened after she was accused of stealing Dr. DeMenz's Electrostatic Illuminator. Do go check it out when ya get a chance, it's awesome!

And, as always, there's lots of fics out there, so keep up the reading, and remember to review the fics ya like!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Forward**

I realized when I was going over this chapter that, back in Chapter Five, I put something in about Joss' age, and realized that I'd screwed up. I thought I'd fixed it then, but quite frankly, I hadn't, until a few days ago. It's fixed now, and for those that don't want to go back and look, Joss and Felix's age difference isn't three years, ten months, but three years, seven months (October 30th, and May 22nd are, after all, only seven months in difference...). Sorry for any confusion this might cause.

Also, there's going to be, I'm sure, some thoughts on whether or not some characters are out of character or not. My flow/feel beta assures me that, considering the situations, they seem very much in character, especially considering she knows some of the future of the fic. If, however, you have concerns in that regard, do let me know via review or PM, and I'll be more than happy to explain those that I can (eg. those that won't reveal the endgame), or to let you know when such explanation is coming up in-fic.

Anyway, onto the review replies! Er, wait... Reply... XD

Pesterfield: thanks, as always, for the post mortem beta-ish review. :3 I presume that means you're still enjoying the fic...! I hope it continues to live up to expectations.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Oh, wow…" Kim hummed happily after taking the first bite from her plate. Her dish was a large, deep sided plate with a bottom layer of _spätzle_ noodles. An artfully arranged layer of wine sautéed red cabbage followed, and it was topped with a few large slices of roasted venison in a thick, sweet yet savory sauce. She quickly followed the mouthful of food with a sip of a golden yet clear - and in her opinion _tasty_ - Riesling wine, "This is _almost _as good as the stuff you make, Ron!"

"Uh, huh! Uh, huh!" Rufus agreed, tearing a chunk off of a huge pretzel, then grabbing some cheese and dipping both in a spicy mustard before stuffing them into his mouth with abandon. "Good!" he exclaimed through a full mouth, holding both thumbs up happily.

"Well, your _sauerbraten_ looks _damn_ good." Shego nodded, her eyebrows knitting in mild disappointment. The look quickly fell from her face when she took a deep sniff over her own bowl of _Pichelsteiner_, a hearty looking stew. It was filled nearly to the brim with a mix of pork, diced carrots, potatoes, celery, cabbage, onions and finely chopped parsley, all swimming in a thick, clingy broth. There was also a plate with a few soft, dense looking dinner rolls next set in the middle of the table for all of them. Without hesitation she dug in, savoring the mix of tastes with a small sigh of pleasure. "This? This is why I love Germany so much!"

"Those both look good…" Ron said absently as he stared at his dish. It was a simply yet elegantly presented plate, with two spears of grilled asparagus crossed over the top of a nicely sized portion of trout. There was also a small ramekin bowl filled with melted butter and a pyramid of six small _Kartoffelklöße_, or potato dumplings to one side of the plate. He quickly went to work to cut the grilled asparagus spears and fish into bite sized chunks, carefully sliding the flakey, tender flesh from the seared skin.

"Then again, so does this!" he continued almost reverently, tasting a little of the fish and a small chunk of the dumpling, before pursing his lips. He then grabbed his spoon and ladled about a quarter of the butter on his fish, before licking the spoon clean and dumping the rest of the butter right on the fluffy dumplings.

He took another taste, and seemed to be in heaven. "There we go!" he moaned almost theatrically as he savored the fish, followed by popping most of a dumpling in his mouth, quickly following it with a draught of a deep brown, almost black lager beer.

"Well…" Shego muttered with a smirk, "I _thought _you'd grown up a bit, but if your table manners are any indication…"

"Hey," Ron protested with a smirk of his own, "I love _Kartoffelklöße_ and _really_ love well cooked fish, especially trout! That's one of the primo dishes at _La Spécialité_! And _this_ is a little bit better than _mine _is…"

"No way!" Kim's eyes widened at the idea.

"Is he really that good?" Shego asked Kim with a mildly skeptical expression on her face.

"Well," Kim drew out casually, "He did get a position as first assistant sous chef at _La Spécialité_…"

"Oh?" Shego began, turning to Ron with a pleasantly surprised smile, "Congrat-…"

"In a week." Kim finished, having intentionally waited for Shego to speak before dropping that small bomb on her.

"No shit?" the former thief glanced back and forth between them, before staring at Ron and smirking, "If you got that high up, you either have some serious cooking chops, or they've gone downhill… And I remember they had _amazing _food!"

"Oh, yeah, still do, too!" Ron agreed with a big smile, which deflated slightly as he took another bite of his trout, "I just wish I could cook fish like this. Mine's always a little drier, and a little crispier on the skin side." He shrugged after swallowing, a smile back on his face, "But I'm up to about ninety-five percent of this, which, according to Chef Andy, is about eighty percent higher than what most cooks can do, so I'll take it!"

"Okay, now _I_want to try the fish!" Shego laughed brightly, startling the other three at the table. Kim smiled at the rich, velvety sound, so unlike the harsh, sarcastic bark she was used to from the older woman, or the air headed tittering of Miss Go.

Ron smiled as well and acted without thinking, much as he had earlier that day when suggesting to Shego that she hang out with them after the parade. He slid is plate slightly towards her as if it were the most normal thing in the world, not realizing the hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Wanna try some?"

The innocent, expectant smile on his face took Shego off guard. It took her back two decades to when she was in grade school and a boy had approached the newly transferred student… She shook her head at the sudden memory, one she hadn't bothered with for years, and smiled at the teen, shaking her head with a strangely fond look, "Sure…"

Shego reached out with her fork and knife, spearing some asparagus and dumpling with the fork, and carefully maneuvering a piece of fish onto the fork with her knife. She slid the fish into her mouth and smiled at the wonderfully subtle mix of herb and the extra smoothness the butter added to it, then tried the asparagus and dumpling with equal relish. "Okay, if you're able to cook at ninety five percent of this, you're hired…"

"Huh?" Kim blinked, pouting cutely at the older woman, failing to make sense of Shego's comment because of the lingering alcohol buzz.

"Kimmie…" Shego complained in mock despair, "You'd be a lucky woman to have a man that can cook _half_ this good as your fiancé, let alone _nearly _this good…"

"Shego," Ron chortled, pointing at her bowl of stew, "Turn about's fair play, y'know!"

"Sure, sure…" Shego chuckled, a vaguely, and if her expression were any indication, unconscious bashfulness coloring her mirth, "Go for it…"

Ron picked up his spoon, again without thinking about it, and reached across the table, drawing a healthy spoonful from the dead center of the bowl of _Pichelsteiner_. Cupping his hand underneath, he drew the spoon up under his nose and closed his eyes, sniffing gingerly at the stew and nodding in appreciation, "That's very nice…" He then opened his eyes and his smirk turned into a smile as he sipped at the spoon, just to get a little of the thick broth. His eyes widened slightly, then he devoured the rest of the spoonful with a distinct relish. "Okay, that's really, _really_good..."

"Told ya…" Shego quipped happily as she dipped her spoon into the same part of her bowl Ron had. She chewed and swallowed with blatant pleasure, "Y'shouldn't doubt me in areas of taste, Ronnie!"

"So I see," Ron said in a comically serious manner, positioning himself such that his pose resembled scientist from the turn of the prior century. He even went so far as to chew and hold his spoon like a scientist from the era would have held a tobacco pipe, "A most reasonable and formidable assessment!"

After a moment of seriousness while he stared into Shego's eyes, they both snorted and chuckled at his antics, the pale woman stating with a strange fondness, "Doofus..."

Kim scrunched her eyebrows together briefly at the playful banter, feeling a touch left out. She pouted as she looked back and forth between the other two, before smiling slightly and reaching out, mimicking Shego's actions on Ron's plate. Unlike the older woman, she stabbed a slice of fish with her fork instead of balancing it on the tines, yet somehow managed to get it over to her plate without dropping it.

"Hey!" Ron objected, blinking as if Kim had pulled one over on him.

"I'm your fiancée," Kim cooed at him with a haughty, exaggerated gaze down her upturned nose. The sight caused Shego to snicker and Ron to choke as if trying not to laugh, especially when Kim continued, "I don't have to ask, right?" With that, she took his food in her mouth, and chewed contemplatively, before making an indistinct, but enthusiastic sound. "You're right, it _is _a little better than yours..."

Ron thought about it for a moment, and shrugged, reaching out with his fork before Kim could react and grabbing a bit of her sauerbraten and spätzle. "I don't have to ask you either!" he smirked smugly, sticking his tongue out at her before popping the mix into his mouth. "Hmmm..." he drew the hum out as he considered the flavor before swallowing. "Your spätzle's perfect, and I really like the venison and sauce..."

"That's…" Kim objected, having been surprised by his quick moves and the fact that he'd pulled it off while she'd been watching. She paused with her mouth slightly opened in surprise, and considered letting loose her puppy dog pout as she turned to look at Shego's bowl of stew.

"Nu-uh, Princess…" Shego said, placing a hand between Kim's gaze and her dish. Kim's expression turned down slightly, and she started to widen her eyes, pushing her lip out slightly. Shego, knowing what was going on, stopped her before the lower lip could start trembling. She smirked and brought her other hand over, holding a fork as if to defend her plate with pointy steel, "Not without asking first!"

"Same to you." Kim sniffed, holding her nose up once again and presenting her own spoon as if in salute before a duel. Ron glanced at Rufus, and they both shared a look, as if begging the other to intervene if the two women started a utensil fight at the table. Then both women giggled and reached out at the same time, Kim jabbing her fork into the same place Ron and Shego both had, withdrawing a nicely sized mound of stew on her spoon. Shego, meanwhile, managing to grab not only some of the venison and spätzle from Kim's plate, but a little cabbage as well. "Oh, this is different, but really good!" Kim gushed.

After tasting the excellently prepared venison from Kim's plate, Shego sighed and nodded at no one in particular, "Okay, I officially have a new favorite place to eat dinner here in Munich… This place is _awesome_!"

The other three members of the dining party nodded in enthusiastic agreement. The meal went slowly as they ate in a companionable silence. After they were finished, they stayed at their table and chatted while sipping at their drinks, long after the table was cleared of their bare plates. Their conversation meandered randomly, but concentrating on the day they'd shared. The three humans found themselves feeling very comfortable, to the point that Kim allowed herself to slide forward slightly and slouch in her seat.

It was almost two hours later when Kim said out of the blue, "Oof, I'm _still _stuffed... After the festival food and this, I don't know if I'll be able to eat breakfast tomorrow!"

The off-hand comment brought Shego to a question she'd been dying to ask for the last few hours, "Speaking of food, how'd you guys like of the food at the 'Fest? Was it what you expected?"

"Well, I liked the stuff there..." Ron laughed slightly as Rufus made an indistinct, happy sound from his seat on the table, "I mean, I _love _carnival food, so obviously I liked the stuff at Oktoberfest... But it was more, well, real food's the wrong phrase, but it fits, y'know? But, more 'real' than I expected, but I'll always like well prepared food anywhere, so I guess it all works out?" The other three nodded in unanimous agreement, and he took a long pull of his beer, cocking his head slightly, "What'd you guys think of the dishes here?"

"They were…" Shego smiled, leaning back slightly in her chair and savoring a sip of a nicely aged cognac, "They were all great. I think the trout was the best, though the venison in Kim's dish was, frankly, the best I've had, and I've had some amazingly cooked deer…"

"Oh, it was," Ron agreed easily, "I especially like how the chef kept the game flavor without it overpowering the dish. And your _Pichelsteiner _was nearly perfect!"

"I liked them all," Kim agreed, "But I liked the _Pichlen_… Er… _Pichelsteiner_?" Shego and Ron nodded, and she smiled at getting it right, "I liked that the best…"

"Well, you do like more homestyle dishes…" Ron shrugged, his tone suggesting he was perfectly fine with that, "But yeah, I'm with Shego… The fish _was_ done better than the stuff I do… And very simple, too! Pan fired in _real _butter, sage, salt, pepper, a touch of paprika and a very light dusting of powdered anise…"

"Okay, foodie…" Shego stared at Ron and shook her head, then eyed him challengingly, "If you're so good at identifying flavors, what was in Princess' venison _sauerbraten_?"

"KP's _sauerbraten _was made with good quality, wild killed deer, not farm raised if the flavor and texture was any indication… There's salt, pepper, or more likely peppercorns, the flavors probably coming from a rather dry red wine marinade… Juniper, nutmeg, cinnamon, thyme, and the sauce had a lot of ginger and sugar in it… Possibly gingerbread as the thickener? And of course it was served on spätzle, which was perfect!" Ron let out a delighted, almost cocky sounding laugh, "Chef Andy'll be jealous, he's been trying to do spätzle 'Just like back home!' for years!"

"Wait," Shego interrupted, glancing at Kim, "I thought you said earlier you worked at _La Spécialité_? Isn't that French?"

"Yes and no…" Ron amended, drawing Shego's attention back to him, "It's mostly French, but the owner, and first chef, was born in Strasbourg, France…"

"Which is right on the border with Germany…" Shego mused, not realizing she'd spoken aloud. When she saw the blond had an interested expression on his face, she smiled at a few fond memories, "I, um, kinda tended to slip into France through Strasbourg via Kehl, Germany…"

"Huh…" Kim grunted, blinking a couple times, "Wait, that's where GJ's European H.Q. is! Wasn't that a bit risky?"

"So what?" Shego countered arrogantly, "They couldn't catch me with the methods I used. And besides, it was one _hell _of a rush to go slipping around Europe right under their noses..."

Kim digested that, then smiled, acknowledging how much sense that made, "I can see that. And considering you were never wanted here, and the way you seem to know about GJ operations in Germany, I have a feeling a lot of the things you did in Europe were based out of Germany…"

"Well, if I was laying low, starting vacation or getting _ready _for work? Yeah…" Shego chuckled at Kim's nod of appreciation, "Y'see, even when I was a completely evil, world renowned thief, I used my head!"

"Then why were you with Dr. L. for so long?" Ron asked, his innocent tone and the shocked exclamation as Kim brought a foot down on his toes the only thing that kept a sarcastic remark from Shego's lips.

"Paycheck." Shego quipped, then expanded when Kim, Rufus, and the slightly wincing Ron gave her a skeptical gaze. Flushing slightly, she amended her statement after a moment's thought, "Okay, and I wanted to have fun... 'Specially after you got so good, Princess…"

"Thanks…" Kim muttered in a droll tone.

"No problem!" Shego's tone was dry, but more ironic in tone than the sarcasm they were used to, "Anyway, after a year, year and a half? It was, well… Um…"

"You had a crush on him." Ron translated for Rufus as he pantomimed and said a few surprisingly clear English words.

Shego stared at Rufus, who was sipping deeply from a wine glass, and shook her head fondly at the clothing challenged rat, "Yeah, pretty much, Bud…" Rufus seemed to preen with the nickname, and took a sip of his wine, only to barely hold off a spit take as Shego muttered under her breath, "Speaking of which, I could so use a bowl right now…"

_Oh, really?_ Rufus thought to himself, then hurriedly glanced at his normal companions. It seemed, however, that only he, with his almost supernaturally sensitive hearing, had heard Shego's comment. And with that, he devised a plan to counter what he felt was a problem with his human, smirking into his glass of wine as the other three at the table fell into a comfortable silence. _Information is power, Shego, be careful who you say _that_ around!_

"Anyway," Kim murmured after finishing most of her wine several minutes later, "I never had a chance to ask anything like it with the whole Reverse Polariser sitch... When did you think I started getting good?"

"Oh…" Shego paused mid-sip and pondered the question, "About the fourth or fifth time we tangled... I thought you were coming along after that cheese thing in Wisconsin, and was certain you were getting good around the time you two got your brains switched around!"

"Oh, God…" Ron moaned as if in pain, "Don't remind me, _please_…"

"What, it couldn't have been _that _bad!" Shego said with a roll of her eyes, "I mean, isn't that almost like some kind of fantasy for most teenage guys? Being in a woman's body?"

"Um…" was all Ron could say as the pale woman's questions struck home. Kim's cheeks were quickly stained a light crimson, and Ron's face paled as he hesitantly explained the situation, "Well… Kinda? But… Okay, Kim's got longer legs than I do, she's a bit differently balanced than I am, too?" He emphasized his questioning remark by holding his hands in front of his chest.

"Well…" Shego contemplated that for a few moments, "I guess that'd make it awkward, even if she was, what, barely a 34b back then?"

"Yeah…" Ron chuckled nervously, running a hand through his blond hair as Kim gave them both a rather dire, if brief, glare.

"That's not all of it, is it, Ronald?" Kim's face held a not so subtle implication that she was paying him back for agreeing with Shego's guess about her bra size.

Clearing his throat, Ron's smile became a bit chagrined, and he nodded in agreement, "Well, um… KP kinda started having a visit from Aunt Flow, if ya know what I mean?"

Shego barked a startled laugh and Kim perked up, a self-satisfied smirk on her face as she rubbed Ron's embarassment in, "And poor _Ronnie_ had to call me, when I was at his house, in the middle of the night, and I had to show him how to handle a tampon so he didn't hurt me or _tear_anything down there…"

"Wait…" Shego choked a bit on the cognac she'd been sipping. When she recovered, she glanced seriously between the two of them, "You're not shitting me? She had to _show_you…"

"Um, yeah…" Ron grimaced, his nose wrinkling at the memory, "And… Well, we were both blushing, and… Um…"

"I…" Shego started, then shook like a dog shaking off water, "Okay, I can see how that would have been awkward… Actually…" She glanced back and forth between them, "I guess that probably helped with body issues before missions, 'cause I know you two got interrupted in the middle of practices…"

"Yup…" Ron admitted, "It kinda also helped when things got a bit more… Um, serious?"

"Yeah, Kimmie told me about her reaction to that ring…" Shego snickered at the blush rapidly expanding from Kim's cheeks to her face and neck, "And the question that went with it, of course…"

"I've still gotta thank you for the advice, Shego…" Ron enthused, "I know you weren't in your head the right way, but… It was perfect…"

"And expensive…" Shego nodded knowingly, "I'd say at least five grand, if not more… The bit that looks like ribbons, was that welded on, or carved?"

"Carved…" Ron's gaze could be considered sickeningly sweet as he looked from the ring to Kim's eyes, and took in the smile that was beaming from her face, "Actually, I had to ask my dad to dip into the trust fund he set up after the whole Naco check thing… It was closer to ten, 'cause of the time frame and, from what the jeweler said, the adonisiz-..."

"Anodizing!" Shego, Kim and Rufus corrected him, Kim's expression one of fond frustration.

"Yeah, yeah…" Ron admitted defeat before either of the other three could claim jinx, "Anyway… Yeah, the advice rocked, Shego! Completely badical…" Ron thought for another moment, then sighed, "Y'know… I wondered a few times after I dropped that thing how things would've been different… I mean, not if you didn't get zapped back, 'cause later Kim said it was the right thing to do anyway… And you'd have gone back to normal in a few months, which would've probably been worse…"

"It would have…" Shego grunted with a shadow of darkness in her eyes, "But I'm glad I got zapped back... I mean, seriously, Barkin?" Shego shuddered almost theatrically, but all three of her tablemates realized she was being completely honest, "_Way_too much like Hego! And before you ask, yes, I'm honestly glad Electronique went back to normal... But for putting me in another mind control situation, the bitch deserved her time mind-fried…" She pursed her lips in a silent whistle as Kim nodded in vehement agreement, then sat forward in her seat. "But about your question… I don't know. I wondered a bit too, I think that's why doin' the whole retirement from villainy appealed when the pardon came along…"

They sat for a moment in silence, contemplating what might have been when Kim's startled voice interrupted them, "Maybe if you hadn't become a villain we'd have gone on missions together…" Kim offered, speaking in a distracted tone, "I mean, more than the few times we did… And despite being evil, it was fun working with you then…"

"You think missions are fun?" Shego asked with a somewhat skeptical expression, then shrugged with a bitter smirk, "Well, I can't fault you, 'cause most of Team Go's stuff was nothing like what you did, Princess... But, yeah, I _did_ enjoy the stuff I've done with you two... Even some of the missions when I was with my brothers! When they weren't being douches, anyway!"

"Was it really that bad?" Ron asked, cocking his head slightly sideways and throwing up air quotes, "When they were 'being douches'?"

"Not 'til I went to college. That's when I failed my mission to 'be a good girl and always think of the side of right and justice!' Just ask Hego, though he claims otherwise, he knows it was _all _about some of my relationship choices, and how I became a bad girl for hooking up with a man before marrying him! Well, and some of the stuff I did just before leaving, like enjoying myself and almost joining GJ..."

"I know he told us a story about you loving evil more and more," Ron said, not noticing the far off look in Kim's eyes, "But I had a feeling he left a _lot_out…"

"Yeah, he did…" Shego grimaced, "By the time I was old enough to go to the university, working with them, the missions with Team Go sucked… Well, more like doing them with _Hego_, sucked, the last three or four months before I went to GCU, anyway." A long pause and an envious and slightly melancholy smile crossed her face, "You guys work so well together… I mean, all the time… It's like you always manage to get things done right in the end, even when you were first starting missions against me and the Blue Idiot…"

"Kind of like this morning?" Kim asked, remembering more than one time she had failed against Shego and Drakken during the early phases of their schemes. The red-head's thoughts quickly rolled through other missions that she felt were less than completely successful, but Shego speaking after a moment of silence cut her attention to her thoughts. Those thoughts, as thoughts tend to do, started running back and forth, building more and more negativity as they went.

"Yeah…" Shego agreed, a note of jealousy creeping into her voice, "And y'know, I can see your point too, Princess… That _was_a lot of fun, although you actually got to kick some ass!"

"I don't know…" Ron chuckled, neither of them noticing the sudden stiffness in Kim's form, nor the rapid blinking as if fighting tears, "From what Helga said, both of you did a badical job! Kim kicking butt with the actual bad guys, and you dealing with the SWAT team like some badass commander…"

"Yeah, I can be good like that…" Shego declared boastfully, "Well, except for almost failing missions because of unexpected things hap-…"

"I'm sorry…" Kim's hissed so suddenly Shego literally choked on her words. An instant later the red-head brought her palms slapping soundly beside her plate, nearly upsetting her wine glass. Her attention, though, was on the tabletop, her tone and expression all but screaming she was speaking without realizing it. "It's not my fault… I… I _tried_ to save her but… But I-I couldn't do it without help, I'm not _perfect_!"

"Wha-…" Shego began in a slightly irritated tone, but Kim was in her own world, and didn't hear her. The red-head's lost, hurt tone also cooled the fire that had flamed within Shego at the almost accusatory tone of the younger woman's words.

"KP…" Ron said at the same time, but he'd seen a similar reaction more a few times over the last month, the most recent being just the night before. Experience had long ago taught him that, when she was in such an unreadable mood, to wait until Kim let slip what she was talking about.

"I _tried_ to save her… I tried, I _promise_!" Kim's eyes were wide in fear, and she blinked to clear her eyes, tears welling and shoulders hitching. Her hands fell to her lap, napkin in hand, attempting to wipe something off of them which wasn't visible to anyone but her, "I didn't me-… Mean to fail… I didn't _mean_ to make s-someone _else_ finish _my_ work! _I_ wasn't fast enough, or _good enough_, and Helen almost… Almost _died_ because of _me_! Because I'm _not_ good enough!"

"What the hell, Princess?" Shego demanded as another, stronger surge of anger flowing through her. But it was not at the accusatory tone Kim used, which she realized was self directed with the way Kim was washing her hands, as if washing away some invisible grime... or blood. No, she was angry because she was utterly clueless as to what the red-head was referring to, a fact she voiced as soon as she realized it, "I have no idea what you're talking about! Who's Helen, wha-…"

"The accident…" Kim whispered in answer, still seemingly unaware of her surroundings. She stared at her hands, having stopped moving them, a few tears sliding from her eyes. "I… The wreck yesterday afternoon, I… When Fritz said Helen was having a heart attack, I… I tried to save her, but…" she shook her head, closing her eyes tightly, "I couldn't save her, someone else had to because I'm just some stupid girl who can barely pass trig, not a hero…"

What was worse, the last few sentences struck a familiar, deep seated pit of rage within the pale woman. She knew of only _one_ person who would say something like that, who could get under the skin of someone like Kim Possible... _Especially_ in relation to math! _Oh, that bastard!_ she raged to herself, _He's still pulling this kind of shit, and with someone like Kimmie? I thought I had it bad dealing with a stuck up, simpleton of a teacher like him, but I was used to it from Hego! But Princess has nev-…_

"KP…" Ron's gentle voice interrupted Shego's train of thought, and she glanced at him, seeing him looking her right in the eye for a moment. He angled his head slightly towards Kim and mouthed the words, "Calm down…" before gently taking the closest of the red-head's hands in both of his own. "KP, Shego wasn't talking about the accident…"

"He's right, Princess…" Shego shook her head in obvious confusion, her anger subsiding into a confused, worried and hurt emotional jumble at Kim's apparent misunderstanding, "I'm lost here… The only accident I've heard about is one that happened on the A-9 yesterday morning…"

"That…" Kim began, swallowing and looking as if she were about to break down, "That's it…"

"Okay," Shego murmured, "Kimmie, that's _all _I know about it, that it was an accident… I had no idea you two were involved, or who-…"

"Helen…" Ron squeezed Kim's hand supportively, "Helen Hausmann, her and Fritz..." He saw Shego about to speak, and guessed what she was going to ask, "Yes, as in Fritz Hausmann, the hotel mogul... Anyway, they ended up getting involved in the accident… Helen had a heart attack, and Kim kept her alive long enough for the paramedics to revive he-…"

"But she almost…" Kim started, "I mean, what kind of hero am I if I can't even save on-…"

"Princess…" Shego called softly, mimicking Ron's action in grasping the red-head's free hand and leaning her body down so she was looking slightly upwards at Kim, "She's alive, right? And the other people that were at the wreck?"

"Wha-…" Kim glanced back and forth between Ron and Shego, and then to Rufus who had come over to pat Kim's hand encouragingly, "Yeah, bu-…"

"And did you help any of those other people?" Shego pushed, a little more forcefully.

"Yeah..." Kim whispered, turning to Ron, "Well, Ron helped, so did _Oberleutnant _Schermer, bu-..."

"Then trust me, Kimmie…" Shego smiled hesitantly, trying to project the honest sincerity she felt with her voice, "Even the best need help sometimes, right? You have Ron and Rufus, and even Drew and I helped you with the Lorwardians, right?" Kim nodded, almost as if in defeat, and the pale woman reached over to gently grasp her shoulder, "And if you think you failed, and what I said set you off, I'm sorry…"

"I… Shego, I'm…" Kim sniffled as she fought back tears, "You don't have to be, I'm the idiot, I… But… There were all those cameras there, and… And what if they thought I gave up, or didn't care enough to… They'll think I failed, and…"

"No." Ron said firmly, "No, Kim, don't _even_ start to think like that! You saved her life; Fritz knows it, those EMTs know it, _Helen_ knows it! You were going at the CPR for almost five minutes! That's _exhausting_, especially after everything else... The EMTs were even amazed you'd kept it up so long, considering you don't do it for a living and it is an unusual body movement..." Shego was glad that Ron wasn't using his normal, mistake strewn vocabulary, as she had a feeling Kim would go ballistic if he did. She was even more surprised when he continued, "Especially, KP, when your compressions were perfect _each time_!"

"Five minutes is a long time with no mistakes in CPR, Princess..." Shego agreed, squeezing her hand gently, "Trust me, some of my best friends in college were studying, and they'd get sore just _practicing_! Keep in mind, this is with four or five minute breaks between thirty seconds of compressions..."

"I…" Kim shook her head, glancing between them, her friends and Shego… Her friend? The woman who had just called her the best, even with her near failure… "I'm sorry…" with that she slipped her hands from Ron and Shego's grasp and slipped out of her chair, leaving her three friends staring after her in dumbfounded shock as she stalked off in an angry huff.

"What the hell?" Shego whispered, shock at the event, and surprisingly, hurt flooding through her, "What was that about? Why'd she storm off like that?"

"She's mad at herself…" Ron sighed heavily, amending his statement slightly, "Embarrassed and mad…" He stared petulantly at the last dregs of his beer, drinking it in one huge swallow before continuing, "She's been like this for about five, maybe six weeks now, Sheegs..."

"But…" Shego began, twisting her eyebrows together in confusion, "Why?"

"Dunno?" Ron shrugged, then held up a finger to ask for a moment, and waved a waiter over, "Dessert menu, please?"

The waiter hurried off, and Ron turned to Shego, "Hey, Sheegs?"

"Yeah…" she responded, still too wrapped up in the sudden, agitated change in Kim's behavior to react to the nickname being used twice in such close succession.

"You wanna go get her?" Ron smiled slightly as Shego flinched.

"Um, _you're_her fiancé!" Shego pointed out as if that settled it.

"Exactly, and _you're_ her new best friend…" Shego blinked as if she didn't believe him, but Ron continued as if he'd spoken a blatant fact, "And she's always respected you and your opinion… She's used to me, and if she hears me saying she's a hero, the best, and that those kinds of things happen, she'll figure I'm saying it to make her feel better. Which is true, but I'm also saying it 'cause it's _true_. But she won't be able to believe that from _me_…"

"But she might from me…" Shego smirked lightly then narrowed her eyes as if threatening him, "Okay… You'd better not be too far behind me, though! I'm not the best at dealing with drama and emotional breakdowns…"

Ron saw through the posturing, but understood that Shego was serious underneath the attempt at levity. He smiled gratefully at her, and nodded, "Not a problem, Sheegs… But first, I'm going to order dessert and have it delivered to the room, 'kay?"

"Right," Shego said as she stood and started walking away. Then she stopped, turned and leveled a finger at him, "And don't call me 'Sheegs'!"

"It's better than 'Firey Hands of Doom' or 'Green Fire Babe', isn't it?" Ron quipped innocently, then made joking shooing motions with his hands, "I'll be right behind you."

"See ya in a few…" Shego sighed, then turned and walked in the same direction Kim had. _I hope you're alright, Pumpkin…_ she pursed her lips in a lightly angry scowl, _But trust me, I know how much that ass puts the 'ass' in 'asshole', and it looks like he got under your skin but good…_

Shego quickly came upon a wide stairwell that went down one full level to open into an large, enclosed patio. There were dozens of comfortable seats and benches, all set around various sizes of tables. The walls were clear, but based on experience and the way it refracted light, the former thief concluded that it was an ultra high impact plastic and glass laminate. It curved back towards the restaurant to meet some kind of composite frame that seemed to be part of the building's primary structure.

Shego let out a quiet whistle at the awe inspiring sight of Munich at night. She spied Kim standing next to the curved window, gazing down onto the still lit _Theresienwiese_, her shoulders shaking with the occasional spasm of sobs.

Silent as ever, Shego slipped up next to Kim and had to stifle a gasp. She'd seen the _Theresienwiese _during Oktoberfest from the air before, but there was something different looking down upon it all from a man-made structure. She could see people walking or staggering between the carnival rides, and towards exits or the subway and buss stops. She glanced over at Kim, who was too lost in her own thoughts and voicing quiet self-recriminations to have noticed the older woman, and sighed lightly.

The sound and the wash of warm air that brushed against her face made her blink a couple times before she glanced at Shego. "Hey, Kim…"

The simple change from nicknames like Princess, or even Kimmie, took the red-head off guard enough to silence her. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times before finding her voice. She had a million things on her mind, but was surprised when the first thing she could say was, "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

"Yup!" Shego chuckled as she gazed out upon the Munich nightscape, ignoring the small gasp from Kim's lips, "Sometimes, anyway. But honestly? You got nothin' on me, so how 'bout we call your potential for idiocy water under the bridge…"

"Yeah, but…" Kim started, screwing her face up in confused frustration, "I took _my_problem out on you and Ron…"

"Yup." Shego shrugged, smirking as the red-head flinched as if slapped, "That's how human nature works, Pumpkin… And I wouldn't call beating yourself up for something you were told by an idiot teacher taking it out on us."

"I wasn-…" Kim began, but Shego stopped her with a few perfectly timed clucks of her tongue.

"Yes, you were." Shego challenged, turning back to Kim and narrowing her eyes at the teen, "And tell me a good chunk of your bullshit at the table back there wasn't 'cause of shit Slocomb implied, if not outright said, in _and_out of class."

"I…" Kim started, then shook her head and looked back to the _Theresienwiese_, frowning in concentration. "Yeah… A lo-... _Some_of it was, but… With my failures... He might've had a poi-…"

"Kimmie…" Shego sighed, "You're not a superhero, but you're a world renowned heroine! Everybody knows you save the da-..." The older woman's attempt to stop the teen's downward spiral of self-abuse was halted by a sharp bark of laughter.

"Yeah," she bit out, self-loathing in her voice as her gaze followed a rollercoaster's cars as they went into loop-the-loops styled after the Olympic rings, "And how many people would consider me one if they knew how many times you and Drakken, or any of the other villains _got away_ before Ron and I _finally_stopped them?"

"Okay," Shego agreed, drawing Kim's gaze back to her, "A point, but consider this..." Shego cocked her head challengingly, "How many times were you there before GJ, or Team Impossible, or even my own brothers when you were in Go City? How many times were you actively pursuing a bad guy before GJ had more than a surveillance satellite on station to look for the bad guy?"

"I..." Kim started, her angry face congealing into a shocked, confused expression as she thought about it. "I honestly don't know, Shego..."

"Pretty much every damn time, Princess..." Shego nodded firmly, "And you've saved _tons _of people, so don't give me any of that crap about 'failures'. Especially if that ass-pounder Slocomb tried to put those ideas in your head! He tries to pull it with all of his hero students, and even some plain old disabled ones! I'm surprised they let him have you in his class…"

"He requested me, actually…" Kim grumbled, "And 'cause of his tenure…"

"It's horseshit," Shego growled, a clenched fist briefly flaring, "Trust me, I went through the same shit with him. The asshole got away with it, and he had _less _power within the school back then…"

"But why-…" Kim began, but a sharp shake of the older woman's head stopped her.

"Don't know or care... Just... Kim, don't let that asswipe poison you!" Shego growled, glaring at the younger woman, "_I_ did, _I _let him get under my skin and look what it got me! In the course all of it, I lost some of the most precious things I ever had!"

"Is he one of the reasons you decided to become a thief?" Kim asked quietly.

"Actually…" Shego sighed, considering whether she should tell Kim about it or not. She trusted Kim not to overreact, or to coddle her or disbelieve her, but others she'd trusted had… _I just revealed more than normal, more than I did to _Drew_!_ she realized, _And all because of dealing with the same asshole of a teacher._ She took a moment to think about it, but heard Ron walking up behind them, and decided to wait for a few before going into it. _I shouldn't do this... I should just shut up, and then I won't have to worry about whether they'll believe me or not, or if they can trus-..._

"What's wrong?" Kim prodded, her concern for Shego overpowering the need she'd had for the last few months to hate herself.

"I..." Shego sighed, pondering it. _If I tell them, she'll know that she's not alone..._ The very thought shocked Shego, and she shook her head slightly, _I... I trust her... Her and Ron... Even Rufus! I trusted Drew, but not enough to let him know about... All that..._ Coming out of her little self-induced trance, she decided to follow her instincts, which were rarely wrong, _When I'm smart or desperate enough to listen to them! _Favoring the red-head with a hesitant half-smile, half grimace she nodded her head towards the stairs, "How 'bout we talk about it back in the room?"

Kim considered, then heard Ron and looked at him. Her face crumpled slightly, and she whispered, "Sorry, Ronnie…"

"Doin' a little better, KP?" Ron asked, glancing at Shego with a smile of thanks.

"Enough to go to our room…" She sighed and patted Rufus, who was on Ron's shoulder, before kissing Ron lightly on the lips and settling an arm around his waist. She abashedly took her three friends in with a sweeping gaze, "Sorry again for the drama, guys…"

"Don't worry 'bout it, Princess…" Shego couldn't help but smile fondly at the red-head. _I can't believe I'm being so chill about this…_

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Felix Renton cursed under his breath as his new hoverchair's propulsion jets spluttered. Cursing wasn't something unusual for most teens, but Felix was anything but normal. The paraplegic had grown up in a scientifically minded family, all of whom prided themselves on control, including language. He was also friends with Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible, and he'd never heard either of them use a curse more harsh than words like 'crap' or 'dang' since he'd known them.

Though he was following their lead, with Kim's ranch raised cousin as his partner, the control had lessened, to a point. She had a tendency, as she smilingly put it, to "Cuss like a drunken sailor with crabs 'n' the clap!"

And at that moment, cursing was anything if not apropos. The timing of the jets failing was, in a word, horrible. The combination of a henchman's kick just as he reached the trailer door and the jets dying as they had, not to mention the draft around the semi-tractor-trailer was intense. _Now I know how a leaf feels in the path of a leaf blower! _he thought as he was whipped around towards one side of the trailer. The thought was unpleasant, but the teen gritted his teeth and bore through it.

Unfortunately, moving at nearly one hundred miles per hour along a two lane interstate highway was breathtaking, in a literal sense. He cursed again, reaching out to grab onto the side of the trailer with one hand, and grabbed an oxygen mask normally used when he had to leave a plane at high altitude with the other.

The trailer's siding didn't budge, and judging by the sound, Felix realized just how heavily reinforced the thing must be. He shook himself out of those thought just as he got the mask on, he barked a laugh as one of the men threw a sharp edged wrench at the line connecting his chair to the grapnel hook embedded in the trailer roof.

"That's a braided carbon nanotube line, idiot!" he crowed, but that was all the elation he could muster at the moment, and one look to his left was more than enough to ensure that. He looked down a drop off that was perhaps one hundred and fifty, if not two hundred feet, and at an angle of at least sixty degrees.

But he held on grimly; he and his partner _had _to stop the thieves, men that either had worked - or still worked, no one was exactly certain - for Motor Ed. It contained a highly experimental machine that could weave carbon nanotubes into a continuous, non-crimp fiber for composite materials.

If they managed to steal it, they and their boss could theoretically make armor plating for vehicles that was sixty percent as strong as that of the Lorwardian walkers, yet light enough for one man to put it on a vehicle. Not a good thing at all, considering Motor Ed's normal M.O. And that presumed the man, who had disappeared shortly after the Lorwardian invasion, was still their boss! And that thought, for some reason, worried him more than anything else...

"Wings, y'alright?" the feminine voice calling urgently through the headset interrupted his thought. It was, he had to admit, a welcome distraction to the dangerous situation he was in, and he smirked through his annoyance.

"Yeah, Joss," he laughed as the driver tried another sharp yank at the steering wheel to try and dislodge him. It was a surprisingly lighthearted sound when clinging to a nearly forty ton vehicle moving at over one hundred miles per hour, "But if this keeps up, I might have to ditch the chair and hope the mobility suit works as planned..."

"Don' even think 'bout it!" Jocelyn Possible growled at him, "Th' damn thing hasn't been fully tested yet!"

"I might no-oof!" His protest was cut off as the semi juked hard to the left, slamming him into the side of the trailer. He barely managing to get his hand out from between the trailer and his chair, and then he bounced off, skittering off behind the semi like a twig in a set of rapids. "Might not have time!" he clarified, locking the grapnel's winch dismayingly late. He glared down the length of the grapnel's line, now played out to nearly two hundred feet and sighed.

"Jus' wait a minute, Wings..." Joss pleaded, her voice worried. "Look, Wade said there's a sharp bend up ahead when they get up inta th' hills! They'll _have_t'slow down for it..."

Felix began trying to pull himself along the cable with his arms, hoping Joss would get there soon. He was on the scene about five minutes before she had a chance to get there. It was frustrating, considering the situation, but he'd been at classes at Montana State University in Bozeman, and Joss had taken a few days off from her own university classes to help her father at the ranch, which was about twenty-five miles south of Missoula, Montana. He'd been closer, but now he was wondering if it was the right thing to do.

At the time, he'd thought it was for the best, especially after their argument the night before. The suggestion had been Ron's, and while he'd been glad he hadn't interrupted the blond in the middle of Oktoberfest, he'd had to talk to him about Joss, especially since he'd dealt with the fiery hearted, auburn haired teen's infatuation himself!

Joss had accepted it, in an unusually demure fashion. It'd hurt to see her like that, but he'd been happy that they'd managed to come to an agreement that separating themselves for a few day was a good idea. Now, though, here they were, the very next day, on a mission together... He wondered how angry he should be at the irony.

To make matters more annoying, he'd been stuck on a field excursion for his engineering class, studying Hyalite Reservoir's dam when Wade had called with the mission. The thieves had broken into the engineering department with a stolen semi, taken the experimental weaving machine and just passed the town of Whitehall when he finally caught a glimpse of them. If he'd have been at the school when they struck, they might not have made it out of town; as it was, they'd managed another four miles past Whitehall when he caught up to them, and Joss, flying a modified version of her old horse Tornado, was still six miles out.

He blinked as he was snapped of his reverie by the appearance of a heavily modified UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. It literally shimmered into existence not even four miles up the interstate, just before the bend Joss had told him about. "Dammit!" he growled as he looked over the vehicle. The already large engines were even larger, and the structure had been enlarged appropriately to house them. The rotors seemed to be far larger, and there were a pair of nacelles coming off of the sides, housing some kind of high tech pods that still sparkled with discharging static electricity. "Hey, Joss, you know that pair of stealth projectors someone took last week?"

"Yeah?" Joss asked.

"The Black Hawk coming up on the semi's got 'em..." he answered calmly.

"What Black Haw-..." She was interrupted Wade popped on both of their comm. units.

"He's right, Joss..." Wade typed a rapid fire series of commands into the keyboard at his 'work-backup suite', feeding the visuals from Felix's chair to Joss' robo-horse.

"Oh, you gotta be _shittin' _me!" the auburn haired teen grated, "Anythin' ya can do t'keep 'em busy, Wade?"

"Maybe?" Wade called back, turning most of his prodigious brainpower to the task, "Give me a minute..."

"Well, whatever happens," Felix griped, "You have thirty seconds to do _something_, or I'm testing the suit, 'cause they're sending someone out to release the grapnel!"

"Dammit, 'Lex!" Joss cried, and Felix felt a stab of guilt for pushing her buttons like that. He knew she didn't like pushing Tornado the way she'd have to in order to get on scene in time to help. He shook away that guilt as he saw the bend coming up, and realized that the Black Hawk was armed.

"Make that five, that thing's armed!" He typed a few quick commands into his chair and disengaged the restraint harness, trusting the autopilot Wade and Kim's brother's, Jim and Tim, had designed to keep itself intact. He then slapped the button on his belt, and felt the suit activate.

It was a modification of Kim's super suit, designed specifically with mobility for paraplegics like him in mind. The main differences were the fact that it wouldn't seal around wounds like Kim's would, and due to its designed intent, it needed a battery pack that he wore under his at the small of his back. The battery pack, an outgrowth of Lorwardian technology, was flexible and would hold enough charge for an hour of strenuous activity.

The suit wouldn't amplify his overall strength as it had Kim's, but it would not only increase his leg power several fold, it would, in theory, allow his lower body to keep up with his surprisingly strong and agile upper body. They'd tested it a few times in a controlled environment, but never out in the open, let alone in a mission scenario.

As it powered up, he felt the unusual sensation of feedback from his legs, and rejoiced as he brought his legs up in a crouch. Removing the grapnel's winch from its modular placement on the hoverchair, he hit the retract button and gave as powerful a heave as he could muster.

Felix found himself almost literally flying through the air as the retract function of the grapnel, designed for the weight of both him and his chair, began working again. He had been flying almost one hundred feet above the blacktop, and was jerked down and forward by the winch. His chair dove sharply and flew to his right and started an insane evasive pattern. Without the jets, it could only glide and use the hover pads on the underside, but it was enough to avoid the shot put sized, bright blue and purple balls that erupted from the door mounted gun.

"They've got military issue stun projectors..." he managed to call into his headset before slamming into the top of the trailer with bone jarring force. His fall was mostly broken, however, by the henchman, who had just reached the grapnel. It seemed to be a good day for the henchman; they were almost to their destination, and thus coming to a stop. The man flew forward and down between the tractor and the trailer, making a loud clank as his Kaiser helmet struck the fender of the tractor and fell in front of the front drive wheels.

"I'm 'bout fifty seconds out!" Joss growled angrily, and Felix winced. He really, really didn't want to have the conversation he felt was coming, but hoped she'd realize he'd had no choice before it came.

"Watch the chopper, Joss." he replied calmly, "I'm going after the guys in the trailer!"

"You watch th' damn thing too!" she hollered as the helicopter's gunner opened up on him. He began running towards the back, a feeling of true elation flushing his being as he realized just how effective the suit was.

"Don't fire on the trailer, ya idjut!" someone from inside screamed, and Felix knew that, so long as he stayed on the trailer, he had a minor advantage.

He approached the rear of the trailer just as the doors opened. He quickly reached into the pocket of the jacket he'd worn, pulling out a pair of round balls. One was a sickly green, the other a dull tan. He smirked evilly and dropped into a slide, his outstretched foot connecting firmly with the nose of the first henchman to pop his head above the top of the trailer. The man fell back, his nose broken and quite unconscious, somehow managing to stay inside the trailer.

Felix's slide was stopped with the action, and he rolled around to toss the tan ball into the trailer. Immediately upon striking the aluminum plank floor, another sign that the truck was designed for far heavier than normal cargo, the ball exploded into a gas that quickly spread throughout the trailer. A few of the henchmen managed to stumble out, but they quickly succumbed to the knockout gas that Wade had perfected over the years.

Jumping to his feet, Felix dashed back along the trailer, hoping to reach the tractor and marginal cover before they could finish repositioning to offer a line of fire clear of the trailer. He was halfway along when Wade cried in triumph, "Got into their gun's diagnostic system!"

The gun suddenly sputtered and died, just as Felix reached the three quarter point of the trailer's roof. He heard the telltale sound of Tornado's new engines, and looked up in time to see Joss swooping down into a curving approach that would take her close enough to grab him, if he jumped... Or to grab something he tossed.

"Joss, catch!" he called out, tossing the sickly green ball vertically about twenty feet even as the helicopter's side door flew fully open, adding, "Carefully!"

"Wha-..." Joss began, but he was already sliding, just managing to duck under the line of throwing wrenches that came from four goons standing just behind the gunner. Joss then realized what the ball was, and what the open door the gunner was hanging out of meant. She reached out as she passed, barely managing to keep the ball from exploding in her hand.

She immediately hauled back on Tornado's flight controls, tightening her arc such that she'd pass just under the helicopter's open side door. She was traveling at a speed of almost seventy miles per hour as she did so, and merely tossed the ball upwards hard enough to enter the door.

"Nice!" Felix cheered as a green miasma spread throughout the Black Hawk. The pilot, a man with a great deal of experience, immediately dropped the landing gear and cut all power to the rotors. The huge helicopter dropped like a rock, but considering the underside of the aircraft was merely six feet from the roadway, the drop was less than an inch with the landing gear down.

"Bai-laaghk..." the pilot gagged on Wade's secret recipe stink bomb, barely holding the contents of his stomach as he forced out the word, "Bail! Bai-hurk!" he managed to release his four point restraint _and _open the door before he voided his stomach. Somehow, he kept his feet, giving the flying robo-horse and its rider a glare as he stumbled towards the trailer.

Eleven more men poured out of the helicopter, choking, gasping and in two cases, vomiting hard enough to be incapacitated. The other nine men dashed to the clear air outside of the quickly slowing rotor blades, and three of them found themselves dashed into the ground by a flying auburn, black and gray blur. Two of the rest went towards the boy that they'd thought a cripple, and the remaining five ran for the back of the semi's trailer.

"Stupid move, cripple boy-ack!" the largest of the men still standing was interrupted as he was clotheslined by the crippled boy that was somehow on his feet. He flew backward, his feet almost vertical when the back of his head struck the blacktop firmly with the back of his head.

"Wow, it worked!" Felix enthused as he ducked a huge wrench trying to take his head off. He looked to his left to see the big man's friend trying to maneuver the heavy wrench for a backswing strike, and skipped sideways inside the man's reach. His right arm snapped out and grasped the man's elbow.

Most people, when looking at Felix Renton and seeing a thin looking, paraplegic teen in a wheelchair, didn't realize the power his upper body contained. Although not appearing to be particularly well built, his arms were muscular, and very dense. On top of this, he had incredible tendon strength, easily equal to a man two or three times his size.

That was why the man holding the wrench felt agony flowing up and down his arm as the teen's fingers dug into his elbow. The joint literally creaked with the force of the paraplegic's grip and he dropped the wrench reflexively. "Leggo, leggo!" the man begged, even as Felix's left thumb dug into the soft flesh below the point of the man's right clavicle. Then he dug his fingers in above the same point, seeking out and, if the man's scream of agony was any indication, finding the brachial plexus nerve cluster.

"Don't think so!" Felix smirked as the man fell to his knees, then the teen brought up a knee. The suit responded perfectly, and the knee struck perfectly to the man's jaw, knocking him out cold.

"You guys get back here and hel-..." one of the three men fighting Joss called out, finding himself joining his fellows in the realm of fist induced sleep.

"A li'l help, Wings?" Joss called out as the other five men spun around and dashed back into the fray. Felix managed to intercept three of the men with a flying tackle, and he favored Joss with a few scant seconds of his attention.

Anyone looking at her could easily see the relation to Kim Possible, as at first glance she looked very similar to her cousin. A closer look, however, showed startling differences. Although still a few weeks shy of turning sixteen, her bosom was larger than Kim's by a full cup size, she was five and a half inches taller and had a more powerfully built musculature. She was heavily freckled from outdoor work since she was old enough to ride on her own, her hair was darker, and her eyes were a darker green.

While she was well versed in martial arts as Kim had been at the same age, her studies were quite different from Kim's. She had studied less kung fu, and added in styles as varied as Shorin-Ryu, Savate and Judo. She was also into gymnastics as opposed to cheerleading, which gave a similar, but unique difference to their styles.

And she was using her gymnastics to full effect. She jumped, rolled and flipped around in addition to pure, strength blocking of blows. When she did stop dodging and blocking to land a blow, her power was more driving than Kim's snapping blows but just as devastating, as two of her opponents had discovered.

Felix turned his attention back to the men he'd tackled. One had managed to knock himself out with an unfortunate collision between his head and one of his partners' heads. That partner was wincing and holding his head, and the third man was just starting to stand. Felix reached out and grabbed the standing man's ankle and leaned back, pulling the man forcefully off balance and onto his friend with a strangled yell. He quickly scrambled on top of them and started raining down punches, until he was certain they were out.

He stood and turned towards Joss, and began dashing over to help her out. Although she was holding her own, she was fighting three large men, and she was already breathing harder than them. _We really need to work on her endur-..._ He cut his own thought off with a growl as he jumped on the back of the nearest goon, all the while screaming at himself in his mind, _Don't need to encourage her, especially considering how many guns her dad has!_

The goon he'd jumped on reached back and grabbed his arms, and nearly succeeded in unlatching him. As it was, what Felix had hoped would be an effective choke was turned into being swung around like a sack of rice, as the man was literally head and shoulders taller than the teen. "Get off or I'll rip your arms off, boy!"

"Oh, really?" Joss snarled, jumping up and delivering a double front kick to the henchman she was fighting. She used the vicious kick as impetus to sail through the air, and after a half twist she was facing Felix and the man trying to swing him off.

"Uh, oh..." the henchman gulped as he saw five feet, eleven and a half inches of enraged red-head swinging a vicious looking axe kick towards his face. It was the last thing he'd see for almost ten hours.

"Nice!" Felix enthused in spite of his worries. Movement which seemed to go unnoted by the Montanan teen caught his attention as he cried a warning, "Behind you!"

Joss was in motion before the words left his mouth, having seen Felix's eyes lock onto one of the men behind her. She ducked and spun about, her leg out in a roundhouse like sweeping kick. The man she had double front kicked fell hard, and she drew her kicking leg in, spinning on it and kicking out with the leg she had been using into a hook kick to the side of his head.

The man was out before she completed her spin, and Felix was jumping over her, driving a hard punch to the rather unhealthily large gut of the last henchman he could see. The man doubled over, the blow, coming so soon after the stink bomb, too much for his stomach. He fell to his hands and knees and threw up, barely choking out, "I give up!" between his retching.

"Nice yourself, Wings!" Joss cried happily as she stood, reaching out and drawing him into an impromptu hug, "An'... That was a good call with th' suit, it looks like it worked great."

Joss blushed slightly as she admitted this, and Felix held out a hand, hesitantly placing it on her shoulder, hoping desperately that it came across to her as just a friendly gesture. While he liked the girl, probably more than he should, she was a Possible, obviously the daughter of a Possible, and that was enough to make the teen nervous. He shook his worries off and spoke in as platonically friendly and reassuring a manner as he could, "Joss, it's okay... I was just as worried about the suit, but I think staying with the chair was out of the question..."

"Yeah, I didn't expect 'em t'be armed with guns..." Joss sighed, shaking her head ruefully, then placed a hand over his, turning suddenly sparkling eyes on him, "I'm jus' glad y'all're alright..."

"I'm fine..." Felix reassured her, while inside he was screaming, _Danger, danger, your brilliant plan to give her _friendly_ reassurance _failed_!_

"Anyway!" Joss said with a slightly strained expression, as if sensing his nervousness, "Lets get all'a these igits trussed up fer th' highway dinks!"

"Right..." Felix said, grabbing the man's wrist as soon as Joss let him go to cuff him with a pair of zip-tie cuffs, "You wanna get those guys over by the chopper?"

"On it, 'Lex." she answered with a warm, slightly husky tone in her voice. A voice, Felix admitted, that sent a shiver down his spine when he heard that tone, "D'you think they have backup?"

"As hard as they were fighting, I kinda doubt it..." Felix answered after a moment's thought, efficiently cuffing the other unconscious men. Finishing up with his latest henchman, he keyed the wireless side of his comm. unit. "Hey, Wade, are the State Troopers on their way?"

"Tell Wade 'Hi!' for me!" Joss called out from the helicopter, and Felix chuckled.

"Say 'Hi!' back, _'Lex_," Wade winked at Felix and the teen felt a frustrated blush staining his cheeks and nose, "And yeah, the troopers should be there in five or so." Felix could hear him sipping at his Super Slurpster, and had to stifle a laugh when he heard the hacker all but spit-take, "Oh, I figured out what happened with your chair's jets!" Felix grunted, which Wade took as a go ahead to continue, "Um, when you, Jim, Tim and I put in the new designs in, we forgot to increase the cooling...

"So, basically, their thermal protection kicked in?" Felix laughed, "I _knew_there was something we missed! You working on an update, or do you need me to do it?"

"Either-or, Felix..." Wade said, "I'm kinda low on stuff to do, since Drew and Vivian are working on the new circuit designs fo-..." Wade paused and Felix thought for a moment that Wade's last word sounded nervous, but shook it off when Wade came back on, though the young man still sounded a tad anxious about something, "Sorry, got distracted... Anyway, The Upperclassmen wanted an update on the combat drones they bought, so they're working out some improvements."

"Oh, cool." Felix nodded, before realizing he didn't have the camera on his chair, "Is it coming along?"

"Yeah," Wade said, "Oh, and your chair's rockets are back online, want me to pilot it back?"

"Sure!" Felix said happily, "I might actually make it back before my next cla-aaiiiieee!"

"'Lex!" Joss yelled as Felix flew through the air from his crouched position and impacted viciously against the helicopter's tail boom, almost twenty feet away. He landed roughly, on his front, his voice screaming in a choppy, stuttering fashion as electrical discharge flared against his legs. That's when Joss saw the reason: sticking out of the battery pack of Felix's walking suit was one of Motor Ed's henchmen's throwing wrenches. She dashed over, and, trusting her gloves to protect her, ripped the wrench from the pack with one hand and the pack off of Felix with the other.

She rolled him over and felt for a pulse, sighing in relief when she felt one, and saw him breathing. He looked to have been knocked out cold, and she stood and turned around her with rage in her eyes. She dodged to her right as a throwing wrench flew towards her head, and immediately charged towards the tractor of the semi-truck.

"I'm gonna kick yer ass, boy!" she roared, and instead of going around the front she jumped onto the front fender and over the engine cover.

"Try it, li'l goil!" The henchman yelled in a thick New Jersey accent. He'd been expecting her to go around the front, and wasn't expecting the axe kick that came down on his shoulder. If the kick had been unexpected, the follow-up knee to his face was beyond any thought in his mind; but then, his mind was concentrating its last thought before unconsciousness concerning the fact that he'd just gotten his ass kicked by a Kim Possible clone.

Joss, however, was dissatisfied, and didn't stop at the kick. She followed him down to the pavement and brought a full force punch to his face, "Geddup, ya' worthless li'l friggin' _bastard_!" she screamed, backhanding him, "C'mon, geddup! I'm not _done _wi'cha yet ya worthless piece'a shit! Geddup!" She hit him four more times before the sounds of sirens drew her attention. Her head snapped up and she saw two State Troopers cresting the hill above them, and heard the distinctive sound of an ambulance coming in behind her.

Joss shook her shock off and glanced back to where Felix lay. She saw a few twitches from muscles still affected by the battery pack's destruction and immediately jumped to her feet, hurrying over to him. "Oh, dammit, baby, be awright, _please_..."

**Author's Notes**

And another chapter! I actually liked how this chapter came out. I know that some readers might find I put "too much detail" in, but I can assure you, despite the depth I put into the descriptions of the meal and what was going on, it's all pertinent... Eventually.

But Kim's reaction is fascinating, non? Unexpected, seemingly random, but obviously painful... And both Shego and Ron are at a complete loss as to why, although Shego has some suspicions... Will Shego's promised chat help KP? We can all hope... And there's Ron, showing that, despite having grown up some, he's still a kid at heart... But then, so seem to be Kim and Shego both. And... Wait, what's that? Rufus is acting devious, and has a plan? What could it be?

As I mentioned in the Author's Forward, there may be some slight OOC, but I hope you bear with me, 'cause it is explained later. And speakin' of OOC, I hope you guys liked my 'three years older' interpretation of Joss Possible. For me, it wasn't too much of a leap, nor a challenge, to go from the series presentation to what I've put in here. Mostly 'cause I'm from Montana, and lived there or close to it until I was ten years old. So, basically, I grew up around Montana ranch girls. And I've taken, as best I can, Joss' personality from the show, and melded it with some personality traits from girls I knew in real life. And then there's Felix. I hope I portrayed him at least somewhat faithfully to the show, and I hope you liked the mission and fight he and Joss got into!

Hopefully the authorial liberties I've taken are acceptable, especially since, well, there's two half episodes and one full episode between "Homecoming Upset" and "Graduation, pt 1" in the series, thus, leaving out a lot of time (roughly six months) for characterization and potential growth between them. For those that are foreign to the United States, homecoming is an American school tradition that takes place between late October and, at the latest, early December in American schools. And schools get out for summer between the last week of May and the first week of June.

Anyway, great thanks go to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work! And, as always, there's lots of fics out there, so keep up the reading, and remember to review the fics ya like!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Notes**

A few notes about a couple things in this chapter... I have a somewhat unique view of the KPverse as opposed to that of our real life universe. First being that, in my view (based on some things hinted at in the series, but not stated outright), alternative sexual orientation - such as homosexuality, bisexuality, omnisexuality, etc. - is not necessarily the taboo it is in our real life in so many societies. While there _will_ be those in this fic that view it as wrong, if not outright disgusting and/or sinful, they are the distinct minority. The KPverse just seems to me to be far more accepting than our world.

As well, there will be, at the end of this chapter (and in the next chapter) some semi-frank discussions of cannabis use. Don't worry, I'm not going to fill the KP cast with stoners, and the characters involved _do_ have at least semi-valid reasons for use. XD

Based on that, I hope you can still enjoy the fic, and hopefully my views aren't too outlandish to ruin your enjoyment, or suspension of disbelief.

Anyway, on to the review replies!

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations.

animeaddict007: thanks for the review! Glad to see it, and hopefully that means you're enjoyin' the fic. As to Shego's comment, and Rufus' plan... Some of that's explained at the end of the chapter and early next, and hopefully it's not too... Out of left field. ^_^;;

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Stepping into the elevator, Shego decided to distract herself and Kim from the last several minutes of drama. Reaching out in a sneaky manner, she slapped Ron on the shoulder as he had a few other people during the day, almost making him drop his wallet and the keycard he'd just removed, "What'd ya order for dessert, Doofus?"

"Hey…" Kim objected lightly, a small but honest smile on her face.

"Better than 'Buffoon', KP!" Ron interjected, earning a laugh from both women, and an agreeing chirp and thumbs up from Rufus. Kim nodded in agreement as Ron swiped his keycard and pressed the button for their floor. Holding the keycard in one hand, he slipped the wallet into his pants and brought his hands in front of him grandly. Then he ticked off what he'd ordered, "I've gotten an orange _Käsesahnetorte_ for you, Shego, I got myself a _Schwarzwälder kirschtorte_, and for KP, a nine layer _Prinzregententorte_…"

"Um…" Kim's tone and obvious confusion drew Ron's attention, and neither of them saw the hard, searching stare Shego gave Ron as he waited for Kim to continue. As the elevator doors opened, the red-head sighed in exasperation as she pulled Ron and Shego both from the elevator. Ron chuckled and Shego gave the red-head a brief, amused stare as she huffed at Ron, "English?"

Ron chuckled and glanced at Shego, the pale woman quickly schooling her face into neutrality, "Orange cheese and cream cake for Shego. I went with a regional specialty, cherry and chocolate cake made with _kirschwasser_, a cherry liquor. Yours, KP, is a nine layer sponge cake with chocolate buttercream in between each layer, and topped with chocolate glaze."

Ron noticed that Kim seemed happy as he replaced his keycard in his wallet. He also saw that while Shego was smiling, she still had a searching glint in her eye that made Ron feel a bit nervous. After closing the door and putting his wallet away, he called out to the pale thief, "Shego? Um… What's with the funny look you've been giving me?"

"Huh?" Shego replied dumbly, then blushed lightly, "Oh, sorry, just… Um, why did you get orange cheesecake for me? I might've wanted to have the chocolate, too, y'know..."

"Oh…" Ron laughed easily, "I dunno, honestly? It just seemed right and fits with you for some reason?" Shego, Kim and even Rufus all looked at him questioningly, so he expounded, "Well, the cheesecake 'cause, well, they're rich and delicious..."

Shego blinked at him a few times, and Kim tittered in an almost juvenile fashion at his remark. The security consultant groaned slightly, screwing her face up in a slightly incredulous expression. _Did he just hit on me..._ she wondered in a bemused fashion, rather surprised Kim had missed it. Or did she? _She's not normally that oblivious, even when distracted... Maybe Kimmie really _is_ that amused by it? Even okay with it, maybe?_ She considered a few seconds before shaking her head, _Just let it go for now..._ she concluded to herself and spoke up in a dry, ironic tone, "Smooth, Stoppable, _very_ smooth..."

"Huh?" Ron's confusion, which to Shego looked like a classic put on, lasted for a few seconds. When Kim's mirth and Shego's reaction sunk in, he gulped audibly, Shego again concluding it was an affected expression of fear, "Oh... Oh! Um, sorry, I didn't mean it that way? I mean... Well, okay, yeah, you're quite... Um..." He glanced at Kim as if to ask for help.

"Oh, no..." Kim said with a note of amused finality, "You're gonna get yourself out of this one... Especially since _I_ want to know where you're going with this, too..."

"Okay..." Taking what he hoped was an unobtrusive breath, he let himself fall into distraction mode, hoping it worked with words as well as it did in fighting henchmen, "Well... Honestly, Shego, you're completely, badically attractive, _and_ delicious looking, and... Um, and if you paid out of pocket for the Mandarin Oriental, I guess you're fairly well off, too, so at least you're kinda rich and stuff, y'know? But, well, I just meant that it's a rich dessert, and cheesecake is delicious! And, I guess, I just thought it, well, it just..." He took a breath, hoping it wasn't too obvious, and finished in a lame tone, "It fits with you?"

His smile, guileless eyes and acting as if he expected plasma burns - not to mention the meandering fashion in which he'd gotten to his point - was just enough to draw some laughter from both Kim and Shego, and he relaxed visibly. _Acting like he didn't get a B+ in English, or average a three-point-four-five GPA to stay in the extracurriculars is _almost_ endearing... Almost..._ Shego allowed her laughter to die, and just as Ron acted as if he believed he was off the hook, she prodded just a little further "So, why orange?"

"Well..." Ron paused, and while it seemed as if he was speaking off the cuff, the result sounded suspiciously like he'd put some thought into it, "They're firm, but not too firm, they've got a nice texture in the hand or in the mouth... They're tart but sweet, and really awesome, too... At least, if you can get past the protective rind…"

"You been giving him lessons, Princess?" Shego waited a beat for Kim's reaction, and snickered when the red-head rolled her eyes, "Well, the funny look, Sport, is because I do like cheesecake... And oranges. They're my favorite fruit…"

"Oh..." Ron blinked, then laughed nervously while looking over at a still snickering Kim, "Well... Do you want to get to saying what you were about to to Kim, or wait for dessert? If you still want to, I mean."

_If he'd get over that 'I have to act like a moron' complex..._ Shego gave him a considering gaze, leaving her own thought unfinished and forcing herself onto a different tangent, _At least he's grown up a little bit..._ She shrugged finally and took a seat next to the end of the dining table. "Well... I will, but after we eat... It's..." She paused, sighing before glancing at Ron as he sat across the table from her, and Kim sat at the end, between the former thief and Ron, "I've never talked... I've _tried_ to talk about it, rather, but not... Not since the last conversation I had with Hego when Aviarius tried to steal our powers, and he acted like none of it ever happened..."

"Oh..." Ron nodded in a mix of confusion and understanding, then glanced over at the HDTV, then the clock on the wall behind Shego. It was set to show the time in Munich as well as the US Mountain time zone. Seeing it was just after midnight, which meant it was just after four back home, he perked up, "Hey, KP, Stanford's playing in an hour and a half!"

"You watch football?" Shego asked with some incredulity.

"Hey, I _was_ a running back!" Ron stuck his tongue out at her, "Besides, since I went into football in senior year, the guy that was Q.B. during our sophomore and junior years and he's been emailing me and stuff. He got into Stanford and red-shirted last year, but he said in his last email that he's gonna be backup for the starter, and might get a play or two in the game."

"You didn't tell me Brick was playing this year!" Kim complained, but without any real fire, "And I still don't see how he got into Stanford, even as good as he was..."

"What," Shego asked curiously, "Was he a moron?"

"He failed his junior year three times..." Ron winced, "Worse grades than me. Apparently, he was really dyslexic, and was never diagnosed."

"That would suck..." Shego murmured, "But undiagnosed?"

"His parents were more apathetic than Ron's..." Kim griped, "Or so he said when I kinda half-dated him."

"Yeah, but he had tutoring during senior year." Ron said, and Kim gave him a strange look, "You didn't know?"

"No, who was his tutor?" Kim asked.

"Justine, weirdly." Ron chuckled then, "That's why he and Bonnie kept having spats and breaking up, she thought they were 'too close' or something. And after Junior Prom, Monique suggested he date Justine, and he did, and Justine helped him enough to pass Stanford's entrance exams..."

"That's _so_ weird... But it's kinda sweet." Kim laughed lightly and shrugged, pointing at the big screen, "Go ahead and turn it on, it'll be background noise, at least…"

"Probably a good idea…" Shego murmured, "They get more American programming than just the games, right?"

"Yup!" Ron laughed, "Full satellite package from the 'States!"

"Good, I won't get bored out of my skull if I have to come out here when you two get boister-…" The ringing of the doorbell interrupted her teasing remark.

"I'll get that!" Kim chirped a little too happily, her action and the blush staining her cheeks and nose making it obvious she was trying to avoid the comment altogether. She stood and hurried over to look at the LCD 'peephole' next to the door, and Shego sighed heavily, glancing at Ron.

"Hey, Ronnie?" Shego spoke in a low voice, keeping it just above a whisper so as not to draw Kim's attention.

"Yeah?" Ron replied in the same tone.

"Is Kimmie okay? She seems a bit..." The security consultant waved a hand uncertainly, "Off?" Shego favored him with a serious expression, and he rubbed his chin with mild agitation.

"No, not really…" he admitted grudgingly, "I mean, you helped, seriously, but honestly? Part of it's her period, the rest... She's been holding onto this... Whatever _this_ is... For a while… And, well… I worry, but I try not to get too, um…"

"Pushy and clingy about it?" Shego supplied, and Ron nodded firmly.

"Exactly…" He glanced back to see Kim taking a tray from the man delivering their food, and quickly added, "I mean, she's pretty much normal when she's not thinking about it, and she tries so damn hard to not let it get to her, but…" he shrugged, smiling hopefully at Shego, "Maybe you talking about what happened to you will help? I mean, maybe she'll really get this out of her system, that way? I dunno, it's kinda what the vacation's all about. So… Maybe it'll help, like I said. I hope so, anyway!"

"Me too…" Shego agreed before she realized she was speaking. She blinked, marveling not only at how much she meant those two words, but at how quickly she'd become attached to the petite red-head and even her fiancé and his pet rat. _Worse than when I was that bubble headed version of myself..._ She shook her head and smiled as Kim literally bounced back and forth on her feet as she set the tray on the table. _Well, okay, at least this time I can actually think that's cute without feeling like I'm breaking every law of natur..._

Shego almost slapped a palm over her face at the thought, and winced at the randomness of her thought process. To hide the wince, she tilted her head, and reached out as if merely curious, flicking a fingernail into the service platter's cover as Ron lifted it. All of their eyes widened as the cover rang out in a pure, clean tone. "Silver? They go all out for the fancy rooms, here, huh?" At Kim and Ron's uncertain gazes, she smirked, "That'd normally be plastic, _maybe_ stamped stainless in a high end room, even at most resorts…"

"I don't think they have to worry much about thieves here…" Kim said airily as she stared at the deserts on the plate, especially her _Prinzregententorte_.

"Probably not..." Shego wanted to be irked at Kim's comment, but couldn't help but agree. She'd noticed the security measures at the hotel, and they were better than many government agency buildings she'd broken into during her prior career.

"Oh, cool," Ron called out brightly as he picked up a hand scrawled note under a plate with a smaller portion of each dish. Rufus jumped from his shoulder to the tabletop to read with Ron, and Ron read aloud for Kim and Shego's benefit, "It says, 'We know that you are an important member of Team Possible, and you, like your master Ron, rarely get recognition no matter how hard Kim Possible has tried to share her recognition with you in the past. Our thanks for being an important partner to Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable! The Management.' Wow..."

All three humans looked at the pink rodent, and were tickled to see his whole body blushing. Shego was the first to speak, and she reached out to pat the beet red crown of his head, "That's awesome, Bud!"

"Badical!" Ron held out a fist to Rufus, who gave him a pound in return.

"They're right, and we'll make sure you get the recognition you deserve next time you save the day, Rufus..." Kim promised, patting his head much as Shego had done.

"D'aww..." Rufus tried to demure but his proud smile woudn't be denied, and he let out a happy cry, "Yay!" He scrambled over to Kim's right, sitting between the two teens to receive his plate.

Ron sat Rufus' slice of cake down, and the naked mole rat almost swooned. The _Schwarzwälder kirschtorte_, also known as "Black Forest cake", was three layers thick, the cake itself a deep, dense chocolate as thick as Rufus was wide that smelled powerfully of cherries. Between the layers and on the outside was a thick layer of whipped cream, and it was topped with decorative swirls of whipped cream crowned with maraschino cherries. Rufus reached out and took a dab of the whipped cream and tasted it, making a loud, sloppy sucking sound. He let his eyes roll back into his head slightly, and called out, "Bad'cal!"

The three humans chuckled as Ron handed Shego her plate. The wedge shaped slice of cheesecake was almost twenty centimeters long, and about half that in width at the wedge's wide end and in thickness. The top was covered decoratively in orange slices, with a gooey, clingy glaze that dripped down the sides. "This…" the former thief almost moaned, "Looks positively _sinful_…" The look on her face was somewhere between hungry and disturbingly predatory, but quickly sank, followed by a despondent sigh, "I'm _so_ going to need the workout room before breakfast…"

"Me too…" Kim griped in a mockingly serious tone, "Thanks for reminding me…" She gazed at her slice of _Prinzregententorte_ as if it were one of her foes. The slice was about half the length of Shego's cake in every dimension but thickness. Each layer of sponge cake was about two centimeters thick, with a layer of chocolate buttercream about half that. The top and back side of the slice was covered in a thin layer of semi-hard, dark chocolate glaze and Kim found her mouth watering at the sight.

"Kimmie," Shego smiled sweetly, "I've seen you pack away as much as Ron…" she jabbed a thumb at Ron, "And not gain a pound…" Kim stuck her tongue out at Shego, and the thief couldn't help but make a snappy comeback, "Be careful when making offers, Princess… You never know who'll take you up on it!"

"Eep!" Kim's eyes went wide as the sound emanated from her, and covered her mouth with her hands, a hot, fast moving blush crawling across her face, "Not _funny_!" she cried as Ron, Rufus and Shego all started laughing at her seeming discomfort.

"What's wrong, Kimmie?" Shego prodded further, waving a forkful of her cheesecake towards the red-head, "Not used to being hit on by a woman that likes other women?"

"Hardly!" Kim laughed, despite her blush. She paused to cut a heaping forkful from her plate and stuff it in her mouth much like Ron would have with a Naco. "Mmmm, dith id _fo_ good!"

Shego stared askance at her, then at Ron, "She always like this with chocolate?"

"Only about five days out of the mont-ow!" He jumped and almost fell backwards in his chair, covering his right nipple. Shego barely suppressed a loud guffaw that would have sprayed poor Rufus with a mouthful of half chewed cake.

"I'm _not_ that bad." Although there was a touch of annoyance visible in her face and in her tone, there was a teasing glint in her eye as she looked at Ron and tensed her still outstretched arm, flexing her fingers, "Am I Ronnie?"

"Right, KP!" he smiled nervously, taking his seat and keeping his chest covered as if expecting another attack, "Not at all!"

"Anyway…" Shego snorted, "You were saying, Pumpkin?"

"Huh?" Kim stared at her dumbly for a moment, before realizing what Shego was referring to, "Oh, yeah. Um, two of our best friends, Alex Eressos and Tara Larsen, I think they were in your classes, do you remember?"

"Alex... Kinda cute, severe boycut, looks like she could be Cyclops' li'l sister?" Kim rolled her eyes at Shego's comment about Dr. Director, but nodded, "And Tara… Cute as hell, blonde, blue eyes, strongest member of the cheer squad other than you and couldn't go longer than five minutes without getting bubbly headedness everywhere?"

"Yup!" Ron nodded, and Kim elbowed him lightly.

"Anyway…" she leaned over to give Ron a kiss on the cheek, letting him know he was safe from her for a while, "They live in the other half of the duplex we rent back in Go City. They're also lovers, and Alex loves to tease me about it."

"Why?" Shego was honestly curious, "Did it bother you?"

"Not really?" Kim drew out slightly, "I mean, everyone kinda knew about Alex already, she's been out since she was ten…"

"Wow…" Shego was surprised at both the early age the girl realized her sexuality, and Kim's easy acceptance of the teasing. "So what made you blush right there?"

"I don't know?" Kim's tone was honestly confused, "Mostly because of that silly sound I made, but... The rest, you just caught me off guard is all. I mean, I didn't even know you liked women until today, y'know? And... With Alex, I know she'd never be serious, 'cause Tara wouldn't be interested in me that way..." Kim self-consciously dropped her voice to a bare whisper, "And you haven't said one way or the other..."

"Oh…" Shego nodded in understanding seeming to be deep in thought. If the older woman caught Kim's self-conscious whisper, she ignored it , "That _would_ be distracting, wouldn't it?"

"I'll get over it," Kim assured her, then dug back into her cake, "Slammin' choice, Ron…"

"Oh, yeah…" Shego agreed, savoring the sweet, thick cake, absently licking at some of the orange glaze on her fork's tines.

"Sank yo!" Ron bowed slightly, trying not to pay attention to what Shego's tongue on the tines looked like, and trying to ignore the fact that Kim's blush had spread from her cheeks to her ears and the crown of her head from the same display. Deciding he needed more than willpower to ignore Shego's action, he took up his fork and dug in himself, tasting his piece in a manner so similar to Rufus' closed eyed, almost worshipful manner that Kim and Shego both giggled, Kim's blush rapidly fading at his display.

"You know what?" Shego asked after a few minutes of silent enjoyment of their deserts, "I never thought I'd be sitting in a hotel room with you two enjoying a dessert like this…"

"Why's that?" Ron asked, curious what Shego was getting at.

"Lots of reasons…" Shego shrugged, "Being a bad guy for so long, then dating Drew I figured I wouldn't even make the 'Fest this year…" She snorted, shaking her head, "Hell, I didn't know you guys would even be here! As for missing it this year, I didn't really mind, at least early on in the relationship…"

"Whatever happened with that, anyway?" Kim's voice held concern as she leaned back, staring at the ceiling as she collected her admittedly scattered thoughts, "I mean, when I heard you two broke up, I was worried one or both of you might go back to, y'know…"

Shego nodded, as if to answer, but she stayed silent for a long moment. "We... Well, y'know he was always saying we were an evil family, and, well... It felt like dating an uncle or something..." Shego shrugged, continuing in sheepish fashion, "As for goin' evil again... I actually thought about it briefly when I couldn't get any work…" Shego's admission was uneasy, but honest, "_Very_ briefly, I might add! But I was more worried about Drew, 'cause he started goin' all deeper into his research. The break up was really smooth, and probably for the best, but you never know with someone like him…"

She laughed ruefully as Kim and Ron nodded in agreement, "But then again, I shouldn't have worried too much… I got him into counseling early on, and his doc's one of the best."

"Who _is_ his doc?" Ron's tone was incredulous, "I mean, no offense to Dr. L., but I'd think working out his issues would take some work…"

"Um, I asked around for the best in the 'States for special cases like Drew's, and was referred to Ima Kopffall, an-…" Shego groaned as Ron began laughing raucously, wincing as if she'd remembered something just a tad late.

"Ron!" Kim admonished loudly, slapping his shoulder and trying not to get sucked into laughing with Ron's amusement, especially when Shego joined in with a snorting chuckle of her own. Kim cocked her head at Shego in annoyance, thoroughly confused.

"S-sorry, Kimmie…" Shego grunted after another moment of mirth, finally clamping enough control on her laughter to talk, though her tone was still amused, "I forgot Ronnie here somehow mastered the German language. _Kopf_ is German for head," she pointed at her own head to illustrate, "And _fall_, in this cas-... Erm, in this _context_, is German for case."

"Wait…" Kim's eyes widened in near horror, realizing the implications behind the name, and then found herself trying to stifle laughter of her own.

"Exactly!" Shego smiled brightly, "I talked to her once after one of Drew's more trying sessions… Apparently her dad was born and raised in America, and despite the German background never learned a lick of German. So she decided to take German in school, and learned what her name was, and decided it was a sign to go into psychology."

"She must be good," Ron commented, "I saw Dr. L at the Snowman Hank convention that was held at the GCU Conference Center..." He paused and his face screwed up in thought, "Isn't it weird that they have a convention about a show set in Christmas in the middle of summer?" Kim's small cough and raised eyebrow made him realize he was rambling, a habit he was trying to break. With a cough of his own, he changed course. "Anyway, I think he's pretty cool now, and he's a _lot_ calmer…"

"Well, I think his girlfriend had a lot to do with it." Shego said with an air of propriety, and a distinct note of pride as well.

"He's dating someone else?" Ron asked, and Kim grunted as if just remembering something.

"Yeah, I forgot you were in Japan... You remember when Dad came over to do that work at GCU, about a week before dad walked in without a word?" Kim grimaced, and Ron nodded, prompting her to go on before she started ranting, "You remember Dr. Porter?"

"No way!" Ron gasped, his eyes wide as saucers.

"Hey," Shego grumped, jumping to Drew's offense, "He's not the best looking, but far from the worst, and he's got a great body, _especially_ for someone his age!"

"I'll take your word for it." Ron tried to sound sweetly innocent, but then he couldn't resist adding, "Is it what they say about small han-…"

"We… Never went that far…" Shego admitted with a brilliant blush and a slight grimace, "Remember my comment about the evil family and how it felt dating him?"

"Oh, sorry…" Ron pursed his lips in dismay.

"It's all good…" Shego sighed as her blush faded. Then a devilish look fell across her features and she turned towards Kim, "Speaking of hands, is it tru-…"

"_So_ not going to go there…" Kim stuck her tongue out at Shego, "But, yeah, he's dating Dr. Porter now, though I didn't realize they were working at the same place over in Go City 'til dad mentioned it. I still don't quite get how they hooked up, they should've been in completely different departments and I'm sure they worked completely different shifts…"

"I might've had a _little_ to do with that…" Shego admitted with Cheshire Cat like smirk.

"Well?" Kim asked in a barely subdued burst of hyper curiosity when Shego stayed silent.

"Um…" Shego reached up and scratched the back of her neck sheepishly, then sighed, "When I was younger, I was kinda attracted to nerds… Um, with dating Drew, I guess I still am?" Kim and Ron nodded in understanding, and Rufus gave a jaunty thumbs up that earned him a raspberry. "Anyway, I went to high school with Vivi, and, well… Um, senior year and about halfway through my college freshman year. She was pretty much my first girlfriend!"

"Pretty much?" Kim asked leadingly, a 'sugar won't melt in my mouth' expression on her face. Neither woman noticed Ron had a far off look in his eyes, but Rufus did, and shook his head at how weird humans, especially _his_ human, could be.

"Um…" Shego seemed nonplussed, so she expanded her comment a bit, "She and I were together pretty seriously for a while, but we kinda just drifted into what amounts to friends with benefits…"

"Y-you and…" Ron finally said, still staring off into space, "Dr. Porter…"

Shego glanced over at Kim and raised an eyebrow questioningly, "Is he alright?"

"He will be when his mind runs through whatever fantasy is in there right now…" Kim tittered, surprising Shego at the lack of jealousy in Kim's tone and actions. The older woman could easily remember seeing it flash several times when she'd been stuck as 'Miss Go'. While the change surprising, it was refreshing, and oddly relaxing to the older woman. "Same thing happened when we found out Tara and Alex were together…"

Shego opened her mouth to say something, then closed it with a shrug, "Can't blame the guy; Vivi's _hot_!"

"So you got them to go on a date or something?" Kim queried, and Shego nodded happily.

"Yup!" Shego said with a smug grin, "And they got real close, really quick… I'm half expecting invitations in the near future…"

"So that's why they went into business with Wade..." Kim concluded with a smile.

"Essentially?" Shego agreed hesitantly, before shrugging helplessly, "I just know they're good together at both work and with their relationship."

"Well, how'd you know she was working there?" Ron asked in an honestly curious tone.

Shego smiled ruefully, "Honestly, it was completely by accident. I was eating lunch at the cafeteria on the research center grounds while waiting for something Drew was cooking up for me, and she plopped her own plate down across from me." She reached up massaged the bridge of her nose self-consciously, "I never thought I'd need to apologize so much in my life..."

"For goin' evil?" Kim prodded gently, and Shego nodded.

"Yeah," the former thief sighed, "Well, not exactly, and that was just one among other things... Honestly, she was more angry I never let her know about the _reasons_ than the leaving or anything else. She asked if I was seeing anyone, and I told her I was kinda goin' through a bad patch after a break up, so..." Shego shrugged, chuckling a bit, "I asked her the same thing and she said she was looking... So, I set her and Drew up on a date..."

"Why do I have this feeling it was worse when she found out it was Dr. L," Ron asked out of the blue, and the security consultant laughed.

"Oh, no, she _likes_ nerdy guys. And while she prefers younger _women_, she loves her _men_ older, so it was great!" Shego cocked her head to the side, pursing her lips, "Y'see, I didn't tell her I was setting her up on a date, just told her that Wade and a guy working with him needed a hand… And I kinda implied he was single and her type…"

The shifty eyed gaze that suddenly came over Shego's features indicated that wasn't entirely true, and Kim slyly voiced her thoughts, "What did you leave out, Shego? He's older than you by almost twenty years, isn't he? Or was it his immaturity?"

"Well…" Shego sighed as she thought about the best way to explain it, "Honestly, he's not nearly as bad as he was; you should know that if you're calling him Drew." Kim nodded after a moment of consideration, and the former thief continued, "It was mostly the build, actually…"

"The… Build?" Ron's askance expression drew a smirk from Shego.

"I know he looks chubby with the lab coat, Sport, but underneath it, he's actually built like a light heavyweight fighter or a running back." Shego voice innocence personified, but her face bore a knowing smirk, "She likes guys that're either skinnier than you were when you two started the world saving, or with a good bit of pudge…"

"Like Oliver." Kim noted and Shego nodded, "I've always wondered…" She stopped suddenly, blushing brightly at her voiced contemplation.

"Apparently not, but yeah, that's how she likes her men." Shego said, "And let me tell you, I got an earful the first time they went further than a kiss, which didn't take long at all. Vivi's very, _very_ sexual."

"Um, TMI!" Kim cried, covering her ears in a mockingly childish display.

"Oh, come off it, Princess…" Shego drawled, "I could say the same thing about Ronnie here… Except he's filling out a _little_, at least…"

"Booyah!" Ron crowed, startling both women as he held his arms up in an overwrought bodybuilding pose, twisting his whole upper body as if trying to appeal to a crowd. Suddenly wincing at a thought that passed through his mind, he cringed while holding his pose, "But I'm gonna have to go with KP on this. Picturing Dr. L and Vivian doing the nasty is _very_ TMI!"

"Doofus…" Shego shook her head, biting her tongue to keep from laughing as Kim reached under Ron's arm to tickle him, despite his protests. "Anyway, yeah, she got over it when I asked her how she liked him." Shego leaned back and polished her nails against her shirt, "Apparently, his smarts, nerdy attitude and his, to quote," she paused to throw up air quotes, "'Small, nimble hands and... Other stuff...' made up for being buff."

"Why would small hands matter? And what other stuf-…" Kim stopped, reconsidered her questions while wide eyed, cringing. "Um... Eww, _eww_, no way!"

"Why do you say that, Princess?" Shego chuckled evilly, "Nimble hands are a good thing! And... Apparently the vines are good for cuddling, but not for that..."

"I didn't-..." Kim began, but disturbed laughter from Ron and loud guffaws from Rufus and Shego both stopped her. "I didn't mean that! Just... Drakken and small hands..." She shuddered and then gave Shego a stern glare, "And how would you know if you never got that far with Drew?"

"Um..." Shego flushed lightly, looking away, "Honestly, it's 'cause Vivi's got a weird habit of helping their friends get back on the dating horse by being very... Thoroughly open about her sex life. Been like that since high school, really."

"That..." Kim said, shrugging as she sought the words to describe her thought on the revelation.

"That sounds like a segue?" Ron said gently, indicating the empty plates with a nod of his head.

"Yeah..." Shego smiled thankfully at him, "Gimme a minute to figure out the best way to explain it all…" Shego nodded, standing to peruse the liquor cabinet, "Talkin' about Vivi and Drew was a good start, actually..."

She glanced back and raised a questioning eyebrow, and Ron nodded, "It's all covered as part of the stay, Sheegs."

Shego growled at the nickname, her growl growing slightly louder when Kim giggled, but she ultimately ignored it. She reached out and grabbed a mixer, a bottle of Belvedere vodka and a bottle of orange juice. "Anyone else want a screwdriver?"

"Sure!" Kim enthused.

"I'm good." Ron replied, and Rufus shook his head with a smile, pointing to his slightly distended belly.

"Okay." Shego went about mixing the drinks quickly, pouring the mix into two twelve ounce highball glasses, almost filling them to the rim. She brought them over and set one down in front of Kim, and sipped at hers contemplatively for a few moments, before beginning.

Kim sipped hers and her eyes widened slightly, "It's a bit strong... But I like it!"

"I make a mean cocktail," Shego chuckled, falling silent for a moment.

"So?" Kim asked in a leading manner, trying not to sound pushy despite the intense curiosity written all over her face.

"Sorry, woolgathering..." Shego said, raising a finger to emphasize her next comment before dropping it to the tabletop, "For a li'l background, which you may not believe, but I used to get along with Hego pretty, well... Great, actually. A fairly standard brother and sister kinda relationship, I guess? I mean, hell, in the middle of my senior year when I was recovering from an injury, he went to MIST, UC Upperton, UC Boulder, and GCU to check the campus our for me! Went back to UCU and GCU two more times, once with me to each, before deciding it was the best choice..."

She sighed, her mouth twisting in confusion, "But... That's the weird part, he checked them all out, and when I said I felt more comfortable with GCU, he gave the official big brother stamp of approval... But when I actually went more than a couple weeks? He started getting… Testy, let's say." She pursed her lips, then a wry smirk slipped onto her features, "Well, that and coming out to him and my brothers as essentially pansexual during the ass end of my senior year didn't help much, I bet..."

"Pansexual?" Ron asked, opening his mouth with a smirk on his lips, before rethinking it and awaiting Shego's response.

"Nothing to do with cooking, Ronnie…" Shego twisted her mouth in a slight smile, before making a moue as she thought about how to answer, "Essentially, pansexuality covers sexual attraction and desire, emotional attraction or romantic love towards, well… Anyone, potentially? No matter what their gender identities or their biological sexes are. And that's essentially how I've always been, I guess… I didn't know how I was 'til I was a junior in high school, but… I love who I love, I don't care if they're gay, straight, male, female _or_ what they _think_ their gender is! I'm pretty much a living version of the general definition of pansexual."

"Oh, 'kay." Ron nodded, following along and accepting it as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. Shego hadn't expected that, and she stared at him for a long moment before continuing.

"Anyway…" Shego took a healthy sip of her drink, for some reason watching as Kim sipped at her own, as if searching for something in the teen's eyes. She relaxed and continued when it seemed she had found, or perhaps hadn't found, whatever it was she was looking for, "Like I said, I knew how I felt during my junior year in high school." Shego paused and chuckled lightly, "Actually, right after the start of it, so a little before I turned seventeen? It was just after my first _real_ boyfriend, Harlan, and I went all the way…"

She glanced at the teens, and seeing no condemnation she shrugged, lost in thought for a moment, "Um… That was after about a year and a half? He was the first guy to approach me after the whole comet thing that wanted to do more than 'bang a hero'…" Her tone was droll, but her movements were almost jerky as she made air quotes. She saw Kim grimace and nod in agreement, and they shared a brief, commiserating glance before the pale woman continued, "And, honestly, he didn't have a problem with the skin, since he was mixed race, which is kinda funny when you think about where he's from… _And_ he was enough of a nerd to love the plasma!"

"That's badical!" Ron crowed, Kim and Rufus nodding in agreement. Their positve reaction drew a smile from the older woman, "Um… So from the way you said that, he was your first?"

"Yeah, Harley was badical, to borrow your phrase…" Shego's laugh trailed off and her smile turned bittersweet, "Unfortunately, about a month later both his mom and dad got called back from the Reserves to the regular Army and moved to Germany… His mom was a surgeon and his dad was a sniper." Shego sighed, staring at her drink pensively before drinking about half of it in a few gulps, "And… Well, we had a lot of plans… Y'know, high school sweethearts, the whole nine yards... We'd even declared our eventual intention to marry, though he didn't have a ring yet. When he left, though?" Shego let a sighing laugh escape at the questioning tone in her voice, "When he left, he said he didn't want me waiting, and I kinda told him the same thing. We parted on really good terms, and he promised that we'd stay in touch, which we did, and that as soon as he was able, he'd look me up, to see if we wanted to continue things…"

"Did you?" Ron asked, leaning forward slightly, "Stay in touch, and want to continue things?"

"We did, yeah…" Shego thought about it for a few minutes, "But we didn't make plans to meet back up 'til just before Christmas during my freshman year. Mainly 'cause he went into the army right out of high school, then got stationed over here in Germany for six months, ironically enough... Anyway, when he found out he'd be coming back to the area the following May, he said he'd like to see me again, even if we'd just be friends…" She finished off her drink and stared down into the glass. "I'd had one other boyfriend, a rebound basically… And while we did go as far Harley and I, well…"

She shrugged after a moment, a light flush crossing her features, "Honestly, he wasn't as good as my Harley was... At anything! And it was for the best that I broke up with him, 'cause I was available when Vivi decided she wanted to get back to dating. Y'see, she and I started hanging out as friends thanks to Harley, since they were both huge video game nerds… And then one night I was over at her place, she was helping me study for Bio II, and I was helping her with Social Studies…"

Shego's smile was fond, but there was still melancholic edge to it, and her voice was quieter when she continued, "Vivi was the first girl I know I was really attracted to, and we stuck together from senior year 'til just before Harley and I decided to try things out again. Like I said, Vivi and I had gone from really close to more friends with benefits, so the timing was good…"

"So, you and Harlan got back together after you and Vivian officially broke up?" Kim asked in a curiously neutral fashion.

"Yup." Shego said simply, "And we went back to our relationship like we'd never stopped seeing each other." She raised her glass to have another drink, letting out a light whine of disappointment when she saw it was empty.

She stood and returned to the suite's wet bar to up to make another, and Kim spoke up, "Hey, Shego?" When the older woman turned, she saw the concern and compassion in the younger woman's jade eyes, but none of the pity she'd expected.

"Yeah?" the older woman's voice was tense, as was her body language.

"You don't have to continue if it's too har-…" Kim's understanding voice was almost too much for Shego.

"Save it, Princess," she snorted derisively, but without the fire she'd normally have used, "I've held this in long enough, I just… I don't do well with the touchy feely shit."

"Take your time." Ron smiled, reaching out to grasp Kim's hand before the red-head could say something else. Kim looked at him, and he smiled understandingly at her, before mouthing, "She needs this."

"Yeah," Kim nodded at Ron, turning back to Shego just as the woman finished mixing her drink, "However long it takes."

"Um…" Shego turned and glanced back and forth between them, and smirked slightly before ducking her head in embarrassment, "Thanks, guys."

She took a long pull from her drink before continuing, her voice taking on a slight monotone, "We got back together. He wasn't sure, that first night we went out, how things would end up, but it turned out great. I'd pulled enough credits to be a junior at the start of my sophomore year, and had plans to graduate by year's end..."

"Did it work out that way?" Ron asked, leaning an elbow on the table to rest his chin on an upturned hand.

"Yeah…" Shego's voice changed to a more contemplative tone as she sat down, and Ron drew an inconspicuous breath of relief. "Yeah, and so did my relationship with Harlan. I mean… He'd asked me to marry him within a month, and I said yes…"

She leaned back in her chair to stare up at the ceiling, taking another sip of her drink as a beatific smile beamed from her face, "And when the Army, in a rare show of honest-to-God wisdom, signed him up for liaison duty for GJ operations in Go City, it ended up being literally the best year and a half of my life." There was the barest hint of shimmer in her eyes as she continued to look up, but a few quick blinks chased any tears away.

"I mean, here I was, teenage hero, just about to turn turn twenty..." her grip on her drink tightened, and to keep herself from shattering the glass she raised it again to her lips. After a healthy sip, she continued with a slightly shaky voice, "I was getting feelers from GJ thanks to being on Team Go and 'cause Harley was working so close with GJ's local First Agent... Local Director General, nowadays, I guess... I'd already told Hego I was going to leave all the crap with Team Go's villains behind, which pissed him off, you can be sure…"

"I'll bet!" Kim snorted, her tone surprisingly heated. Shego looked as if she were about to question the red-head about it, but the younger woman continued, "But… It sounds like things went south?"

"Not for a while…" Shego leaned back and slipped to the edge of her seat, setting the drink down and crossing her arms as she leaned on the table.

"We had it all planned out," Shego whispered, "Our wedding, I mean, everything, including flower petals instead of rice, to keep the birds safe..." She snorted, "God, I was a goody-goody..." She took a sip of her screwdriver and stared into the slowly separating drink, "And then the Army needed his... Specialized skills for some joint Special Forces and GJ ops in Mexico and Columbia..." Shego shuddered a bit, shaking her head, "It was bad... Some rebels in Columbia that were working with the last remnants of a cartel in Mexico, and they kidnapped a retired supervillain called Bat-Ears..."

"I read about that in my Recent World History class..." Kim's eyes were wide, "Your boyfriend was part of that mess?"

"Yeah..." Shego whispered, "I heard it, listened in on the OP... Got to 'cause Harley and I were really good friends with a couple of the GJ agents in Go City... He got back with a small wound, but ten agents, six soldiers, and none of the rebels went back home alive..."

"Damn..." Ron muttered, shaking his head in surprise, his unfocused gaze missing the surprised looks Kim and Shego gave him.

"Yeah, well... It broke the back of the last true cartel in Mexico... That and legalizing pot for medicinal use nationwide helped..." Shego sighed after a moment, shaking her head to get back on track. "Anyway, he got back, and after slapping him for saying yes to the mission and bawling my eyes out, we... Got a bit busy..."

"Well, yeah…" Kim remembered how she'd been for the last month, and couldn't imagine being in a situation where she was stuck at home and Ron was off on something like that, "I could see the need for lots of make up sex after something like that!"

Shego blushed and nodded, but the smile on her face was, beatific, lighting her face up in a way neither of the teens at the table had ever expected. "He had leave for a week, and we, um… Didn't leave the apartment for two days." Kim and Ron laughed with Shego, and then, unexpectedly, tears sprang to Shego's eyes, "And… About a month later, I… _We_ had to... The wedding was moved up..." Ron and Kim looked at each other askance, not knowing what to say or do, but Rufus's squeaked comment floored them.

"Pregn'nt." Rufus' simple, teary-eyed comment drew a reluctant, pained nod from Shego, who sighed and finished off her drink without a thought.

"Yup." Shego muttered, "And… Don't get me wrong, I was happy. _So_ friggin' happy I thought I'd die… And so was Harley. I mean…" She leaned back and took a shuddering breath, her eyes looking everywhere but at the three she had come to know as friends. "I was told, when the comet hit, that I probably couldn't conceive… That I was barren. Not that the plasma would do anything, or my accelerated healing, but, because of some of the injuries I'd incurred… My uterus acts like I'm on the pill constantly…"

"What happened?" Kim asked, as she and Ron reached across the table to gently grasp one of Shego's hands each.

The pale woman started at the action, trying to smile at them, but unable to, fear clenching her heart. _They aren't Hego, they're real heroes... I trust them... I..._ Shego almost slapped herself, and forcibly ordered herself, _No time like the present, get it over and done with like pulling off a band aid, you stupid bitch!_

"What happened was that Harley got called on another mission, and apparently I _can't_ take a child to term…" she muttered lowly, a few choking gasps the only indication of the pain she felt in that moment, "I… I'd decided to go get a counseling degree, not a full blown doctorate, just an associate's... I had my teaching cert, so it was just to pad my resume and maybe earn a little extra, so I got my child psychology degree to go with the teaching cert and childhood development degree. When I was walking from my last final and I got this call... They said they were with Harley's company, and gave all the right codes and everything..."

"What did they say?" Ron asked as gently as he could when Shego's voice seemed to have failed.

She glanced at him as if she'd forgotten he was there, and took a deep breath before continuing, "That he'd been killed... Then, like literally seconds later, some... Some stupid school function filled the hallway before I could even take it all in... I-I dunno if it was the stress of the call while being five months pregnant, or the sudden crowd, or if I got jostled wrong or what… And with-... With Harley gone... I was stressed, and I… I finally got someone's attention, someone I knew and told them I just got a call 'bout Harley... She and her boyfriend took me home, and I just got this bad feeling. Just as they got me home, I started _cramping_…"

"Oh, God…" Kim gasped, making the logical jump and letting go of Ron's hand to cover her mouth in shock, "That's… That's what you meant this morning, about a miscarriage…"

"Yeah…" Shego's eyes were staring at the tabletop, but she wasn't seeing it. Instead, she was seeing the ceiling of Go City's Lakefront Regional Hospital, hearing the sounds of a heart monitor... And wishing she saw a face that she knew she'd never see again.

"It was bad… Apparently, my friends drove me to the hospital..." she didn't speak for several seconds, reliving it all. "I was in a coma for two and a half days before waking up."

"Was anyone there?" Ron asked, and was startled when Shego barked a hard, cruel sounding laugh that bore no relation to humor whatsoever. She pulled her hands out of their grasp and scrubbed at her face a few times before returning her hands to the tabletop.

"Oh, yeah..." Shego turned her face back to Kim and Ron, rage sparking in the depths of her eyes, almost hidden behind the grief more easily visible. "My worthless brother was there!" Somehow she kept her voice below the level of a yell, but the hatred in her voice was terrible to behold, making Kim shiver slightly. "That sanctimonious piece of garbage asked me why I'd done it. I had no idea what he was talking about until later... Then Harley's mom called _me_ and asked _me_ what happened, because Hego wasn't allowing me to make calls! The bastard was worried about the press..."

"But..." Kim whispered, "You had a miscarriage… Lost the baby..." Kim whispered, and Shego nodded, her unfocused gaze falling to the tabletop, "Why?"

"The friggin' press!" Shego hissed, ignoring Kim's question, "Hego was pissed and wasn't telling me what, just kept asking why I'd done it, what was I thinking, shit like that. Neither he nor the dumb bitch O.R. nurse he brought in with him would tell me what... Just kept grilling me, despite the fact that I'd almost bled out and kept falling in and out of consciousness..." Shego turned her face and acted like she was spitting, and a cruel, hateful smirk took to her face, "Heh, luckily, we, Team Go, I mean, can take whole blood… Nine units went into me, which is really not surprising, considering how much I spout during that time of the month…"

She sighed, looking down at the tabletop, "Anyway, the floor doc had him escorted out, and then Harley's mom, Matilda, got ahold of me. Apparently Hego couldn't be bothered to call Harley's family... She... She asked me what happened, 'cause I was in the hospital and when Harley got home no one would let him in..." Shego reached her hand out blindly, as if at a memory, and was shocked back to the present when Kim and Ron again wrapped their hands around hers. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out for several long seconds. Finally she sighed and nodded thanks to them, before continuing, "Harley... He... He wasn't dead... Someone screwed up..."

"Did you tell her?" Kim asked, and Shego nodded, her hand grasping Kim's with surprising force. She opened her mouth to ask Shego to let up slightly, when Shego looked at her hand, and lessened the pressure on her own.

"Yeah..." the older woman grunted, "I did... And I waited, and waited... He never showed up... Never came by... I... I was in and out of consciousness, even after waking up from my coma." she looked away, and after holding them back for so long, a few tears forced themselves past her defenses, "After the next time Hego visited, I got a nurse to allow a call out, and got ahold of Milty..."

"No' good?" Rufus squeaked, and Shego focused on him briefly.

"No... Not good at all, Bud..." she took a shuddering breath, "Harley, he... He'd come home, and said goodbye to her... His uncle, he's is in the Army too, told me later he took some offer the Army gave him, went into some deep black ops training shit..."

"Wh-why?" Kim asked, startled by the weirdness of the situation.

"Because, Princess…" Shego paused again, "Um, sorry, let me back up a bit, 'kay?" The two teens nodded, and Shego paused to catch the breath that seemed to be trying to escape her. "This kinda relates to how Slocomb screwed with me, too."

"Oh, yeah…" Kim flushed slightly, and Shego shook her head and held up a finger.

"Not your fault, Pumpkin." Shego waited until Kim nodded, then spoke again, her tone belying the calmness of her face and body, "Throughout all of this, Slocomb had been trying to get under my skin. He'd tried to convince me to either completely quit hero work, or quit school. And he almost succeeded on both counts, almost failing me for missing seven of his classes throughout the first year, even when Hego once had to literally drag me out of class to help the team."

"Wha-…" Ron started, then thought for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, I could see him do that…"

"Yeah." Shego's tone was ironic, "And I had to take another class with Slocomb during my psychology degree. Every goddamn time I ran into him between classes, he'd say shit to me, put me down, the whole nine yards… And always did it with either some sycophant of his around, or no other witnesses…"

"His words against yours…" Kim said, "He started out that way with me, but eventually he just seemed to stop caring who heard."

"Probably because you didn't let it get to you in classes…" Ron said, and Kim looked away from him in shame. He immediately placed a gentle hand against her chin and turned her face back to his, "No, KP, we've been over this… I _don't_ blame you! And neither did anyone _else_, except maybe that asshole! You _needed_ to vent your frustrations… And if you remember, I told you to do just that if you needed it!"

"I know, Ronnie, I just…" Kim sighed, her voice foggy with emotion, "But I shouldn't hav-…"

"But nothing, Princess." Shego smiled at the scene slightly, despite her own anguish, "I never thought I'd say this, but your Doofus has a point…"

"He's not a doofus…" Kim tried to make it a joke, but her own emotions ruined the attempt as it came out sharp and biting.

Nonetheless, Shego let it go and continued, "Anyway, it got worse when I started showing… He'd even made a comment that if I had to leave his class once for morning sickness, he'd have me removed from any classes he taught."

"What a dick!" Ron's outburst was shocking to everyone there, even apparently, to himself. He flushed slightly and scratched the back of his neck self-consciously, "Heh, sorry…"

"It's okay…" Shego allowed a fragile laugh, "Thanks, Ronnie… I needed that." She took a few moments to consider her words before continuing, "Anyway… He's apparently the one that told Hego about my condition, and when Hego got to the hospital, the nurse I mentioned grabbed him and took him aside... When Hego finally came back a second time, he came back with that nurse, and..."

"If he was causing problems, why didn't they kick him out again?" Kim asked, then shook her head, angry with herself, "Wait, he's a hero, right?"

"Exactly, and a different floor doc." Shego nodded, "Anyway, as soon as he got back, he ushered the nurse out and asked her to watch the door... Lakefront Medical has nearly soundproof doors, so family can bawl their eyes out if their family member's dying without bothering patients that're stable or _their_ families..." Shego growled as the memory washed over her, "When that bitch left... He laid into me, bitched me out about having an abortion, wouldn't listen to me when I said I had no idea what he was talking about, nothing…"

"What kind of a moron brother would think you had an abo-…" Kim began, but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"KP!" Ron half yelled, "Let her finish!"

Shego stared at Kim, shocked at the vehemence in the younger woman's tone, and the apparent willingness to side with her against Hego, then at Ron, trying to puzzle out why he seemed angry at Kim's outburst. She shook her head after a brief pause, "Um, anyway, the nurse told him I'd asked for it, and he said he'd asked a doctor if I had... The doc, I talked to him later, said I'd had one, but before he could explain I was unconscious, that it was to save my life, Hego stormed off..." Shego's face screwed up in confusion, "Y'know, I never understood why he pulled that... Or why he couldn't remember me even being in the hospital back then! I mean, I have theories, but…

She shook her head and took a few breaths to calm her frustration, "Anyway… He told me that Harlan had come by, and had asked him to tell me it was over, then he told me I had a spot on the team, if I hadn't fallen too far into my evil ways… Otherwise I'd be disowned."

"Wait…" Ron said, holding his hands up as if to stop traffic, "Hold up… This guy loved you, or claimed to, but he left you after you had a miscarriage? And evil, what? How?"

"Yes to the first." Shego sighed, "He did, Ron, he honestly, really did... But for a while after Hego told me that... I was too hurt to care. I'd lost my baby, and been told I was on the verge of losing my family, and that the love of my life had left me…"

"But?" Kim asked through clenched teeth, knowing that a few months before, she'd have had trouble believing some of this, not without research. But after dealing with Hego a few times in Go City as a 'fellow hero', she could see the overblown egoist pulling everything Shego was claiming.

"But…" Shego sighed, "But, he'd been told the same thing as I was, sort of. He'd apparently come home, and Hego had intercepted him as he got to the hospital. He'd told him about how I was becoming evil, and had decided to abort our child and that I was claiming it was because I'd heard he died... Said that I didn't want to see Harley… When Harley called bullshit on that, Hego told him not to go near me, and then twisted the light pole right in front of Harley's car... Then picked Harley up, threatened to do the same thing if he made me fall any farther from the path of righteousness!"

"What?" Kim exploded, half standing and this time clasping Shego's hand painfully. She immediately realized what she was doing and sat, almost letting go of Shego's hand, but the older woman kept a firm grip, as if the act of holding Kim and Ron's hands was all that kept her grounded in the present, and not in the past.

"Like I said, though, Hego told me he'd left, saying if I couldn't keep his baby just 'cause I thought he'd died..." Shego choked up for a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head to banish the emotional torrent her comment forced through her, "God, sorry I keep going back over the same thing, guys..."

"No worries, Sheegs..." Ron said, standing as Shego swallowed against a dry throat. He went to the liquor cabinet and poured two fresh glasses of orange juice, then offered one to each of the ladies at the table. Kim let go of Shego's hand with only one of hers, just long enough to down the rest of her screwdriver and then most of the orange juice before returning her hand to Shego's without a second thought. Shego was less aggressive with hers, taking several slow pulls as she composed herself.

"Thanks, Ronnie..." Shego said softly before returning to her memories, "Um... After Hego told me all that, and bitched me out, I sat in the bed for an hour... Maybe a li'l more, I dunno... But when I actually thought about it, I realized he had to be wrong, or lying... That's when I got the head nurse to put a call out for me..."

Shego stared at Kim's hands when they tightened reassuringly on hers, then almost started as Ron sat back down next to the red-head and grabbed the former thief's free hand, giving just as gentle a squeeze. She felt the warmth of the two teens hands, and drew what strength she from them could before continuing, "The nurse - she'd known me since I was a li'l girl - let me use her cell, since I wasn't allowed to use a land line... I got ahold of Milty... I asked her what happened to Harley, and she said when he got home, he grabbed a few things and... And just left. I asked her if he'd said anything about me, but..." She shrugged and went on, her voice cold with building rage, "She had no idea...

"And it got worse..." Shego's tone darkened again, rage slipping into her tone like an oiled blade, "When I was released, Slocomb tried to screw with me some more... He told me I missed my final, and that I'd failed his class. I was…"

Shego stopped speaking, her body shaking and she began to bear down with her right hand. She then stopped shaking and looked to her right when a blue glow flared up brightly. "Um, Sheegs? Mind toning that down a bit?" Ron let a grimacing smile come to his face, "The game of mercy this morning was bad enough, but even with the MMP this kinda hur-..."

"Huh?" Shego blinked, snapping out of the memory she'd become lost in and looked to her right. She blinked at Ron's tense face and looked down where his hand was half curled in on itself within her grasp, and she could feel his bones creaking despite the Mystical Monkey Power. She gasped in shock and let go, cursing under her breath and trying to pull her hand away, "Sorry, Ronni-..."

"No, Sheegs..." Ron said gently, placing his other hand over hers, "The MMP's still a bit sketchy, but it's workin' right now... And no plasma this time!" Ron and Kim both smiled at her and Shego tittered a bit nervously, "Sheegs, seriously, it's okay, promise..."

Shego blushed and nodded, her blush part embarrassment and part because of the way he patted her hand. Again she felt a strange flash of familiarity with Ron, and was reminded of a time not long after she'd received her powers, before her strength had amped up like it was now, and a boy she'd known since she was eight holding her hand in such a similar fashion... She wanted to crush the memory, but found she didn't have the heart, and instead whispered, "If you're sure..."

She turned to glance at Kim as a worrying thought struck her, half-expecting to see a jealous glare from the red-head. She was utterly shocked to see only a comforting gaze that seemed in full agreement with Ron's assurances. She felt like she wanted to cry, so she blinked and tried to center herself without the loose, hurtful rage she was feeling. It took her several minutes, but Ron, Kim and Rufus all sat patiently until she succeeded. When she finally did, she glanced back and forth between them, a sheepish expression, "Sorry, but when I'm really piss-..."

"It's okay, Shego," Kim assured her this time, "Just like Ronnie said..."

"Um, 'kay..." Shego muttered, taking a few more breaths before continuing, "Anyway, I was really getting pissed at that point, and Hego kept harping on me when my other brothers weren't around... Kept bitching me out about my 'choices', about how if I kept it up, I'd become evil... Kept saying Harley left me 'cause... 'Cause of what happened... And then Slocomb really started pushing his shit on me in class, so I had at least a couple students that were willing to back me up. That's when I took my problems with him before Dean McDermott …"

"He got things straightened up?" Kim asked, and Shego nodded.

"Yeah, I took my final from a different teacher with a nearly identical, but somewhat more difficult syllabus, and passed." Shego took a long, deep breath, "And I went back to Team Go. But… It wasn't the same. Especially since Hego wasn't letting me go see a counselor like I wanted, like the hospital staff begged him to do..."

"Um..." Ron said softly, as if worried about his question, "How could Hego keep doin' all this?"

Shego sighed, her lips twisting ruefully, "It's because, after we became wards of the state, various rules were placed upon us 'cause of our powers. And when he turned eighteen, he was old enough to claim guardianship, but we were under his thumb 'til we were twenty-one..." Shego shook her head, "But I didn't care... I was goin' out and partying all the time, I became something of a raging alcoholic for a while…"

"Ouch…" Ron winced in sympathy, "That must've cause all kinds of issues with Hego…"

"Yeah, well, that's not the worst..." A strange smile took to Shego's face, a mix of distaste, fond memories and honest humor, "I didn't exactly become a slut, but I... I wanted to forget, to escape, so... In the next four months, I had five different girlfriends, and four and a half boyfriends..."

"Wait..." Ron asked, screwing up his face in confusion, "How... What, didja date a midget?"

"No!" Shego laughed honestly, giving Ron her best, if failing, attempt at a whithering glare, "One boyfriend I tried to have something with, a rebound, basically... Three bed buddies, and the last one was a guy I thought I'd stick to screwing, but ended up dating and _almost_ screwing..." Shego's tone was droll, and Ron looked at her as if he hadn't expected that.

Kim merely nodded in understanding, "You just wanted to forget, like you said..."

"Yeah..." Shego nodded, glad Kim wasn't judging her for the actions she'd taken, "Sadly? I only had sex with three of the girls, two kinda steadily... But the one that might have been something long term? Hego ruined that when he caught me making out with the dude in Go Tower's conference room… Which was kinda funny, 'cause that's how Hego _confirmed_ that GJ was _actively_ trying to get me to join up…" Shego opened her mouth to give some more detail, but thought better of revealing too much about the situation and merely ended with, "Up to then, he thought I'd only had basic contact with them..."

"Oh, God!" Kim said after Shego gave them time to let it sink in. Despite the highly taxing emotions flying about the room, couldn't help but giggle at the image in her head, "So you were making out with a GJ agent, in Go Tower?"

"Um, yeah… He was cute, and had a _damn_ cute ass... And he was kinda not just an agent, but my training coordinator, since I'd signed on as a cadet, so it wasn't exactly proper?" Shego rolled her eyes as if slightly chagrined by that, but then shrugged and gave Kim a half hearted glare. "Don't ask..." she said as darkly as she could muster, while inside she actually felt... Nervous about the identity of the agent, _I'm just glad I didn't tell her _who_ that agent was..._

"Who was it?" Ron asked, startling Shego slightly, but she recovered quickly.

"That included you, too, Doofus!" Shego griped, but then chuckled, shaking her head at the teens and naked mole rat. She pursed her lips, finally saying as airily as she could, "No one important..." She let that sink in for a moment, then went back to Hego's reaction, "But, honestly, Hego's reaction was great… All red faced and veins popping out, the whole nine yards..."

"But afterwards he literally threw the dude out by his collar, he came back in and freaked. Basically accused me of throwing away everything right and good because I was willing to leave the team, and to be such a slut to do it… And the way he freaked out that night, it got me to thinking…" Shego sighed, her grimace almost a pout, "So I went and looked up Harley's uncle, Barry, to see if he was still in the States… He was, but like I said, Barry told me he went into some deep black ops unit, so I couldn't call him...

"But he left a video message with Barry..." Shego's face crumpled, "He... He told me about Hego, what he'd done in the parking lot... The threats..." Shego let out a long, humming sigh, shaking her head in disgust, "I went back home after viewing the video, to confront Hego about it..."

"That's when you left the team, chose to be an evil sidekick?" Kim asked, wincing slightly as the words left her mouth.

It didn't seem to bother Shego, as she let loose a ruefully amused snort, "Nope, I was too stupid to by that point!" She loosened her grip on Kim and Ron's hands, and they let go so she could stand up. She walked back to the liquor cabinet and grabbed the orange juice, refilling the glass Ron had gotten for her.

"I got myself ready to leave, packed some stuff... But instead of leaving right then, I grabbed my keys, stormed out of the tower, and got myself well and truly drunk..." She downed the juice quickly, leaving herself nearly gasping when she was finished. Setting the dirty glass down, she turned stared at the floor, sliding an arm across her body to grasp the opposite elbow and spoke in the barest of whispers, "After waking up on one of my lezzie bed buddies couches, I decided I'd stay, but since I was turning twenty-one in a week, I made up some rules of my own... Then I got a call from Mego, he said it was really important... When I got back to Go Tower... There was an Army major and a chaplain waiting in the living room... They were looking for me..."

Kim gasped, and Ron lowered his head, almost prayerful in manner. Shego's body shook slightly, and for several seconds she drew deep, shuddering breaths. When she had a semblance of control, she spoke again, her voice louder, almost clear, "They... Had word, for me, about Harley... He... He was killed in action, saving a bunch of of his troops, and some women and kids from some shithole in Africa..."

"I was ready to stay, when that hit me... I _needed_ to be home, to stay with my family..." The grip on her arm was so firm that both Kim and Ron winced in sympathetic pain. But the mint hued woman continued unabated, as if she felt nothing, "The reason I left was 'cause Hego blamed _me_ for Harley's death! He said... The self-righteous bastard said it was _Karma_ that he died! Punishment for my evil ways. _That_ was when I told him, 'I'm not evil you jackass! But if you think I'm evil _now_, then how about I show you how evil I _can_ be?' So I got my things, and never looked back 'til Aviarius stole our powers with his staff…"

"And he claims to be your big brother?" Ron growled dangerously, both hands cracking as they closed into tight fists, "He's an even bigger douchebag than I thought! That is _not_ how a big brother acts! No way, no how!"

"Yeah!" Rufus agreed, thrusting a fist of his own in the air like a superhero making a stand.

"He shou-..." Ron's rage was palpable, and Shego, who had still been staring at the floor, was shocked at the emotion in the blond's voice.

"Cool it, Ron!" Kim's voice seemed soothing on the surface, but bore a core of malice that startled Shego cut her fiancé off, "If I can't blow up, neither can you!"

Ron glanced back, his face still contorted in a jumble of emotions that clouded his face in a confused jumble, "But... But I... _Dammit_..."

"I know, Ronnie..." Kim soothed, placing a gentling hand on his shoulder, "I know, I... I feel the same way, but... There's not much we can do now, it's in the past..." She glanced at Shego, and although she bore a gentle, sorrowful smile, there was still that strange undercurrent of malice that Shego didn't understand, "We're not her _family_, but we can be here for Shego when she needs it, right?"

Shego continued to stare wordlessly, realizing that Kim's malicious feelings were directed at her brother. She wasn't sure what to think about that, and was contemplating asking about it when her gaze snapped to Ron. The blond had exhaled the breath he'd been holding in an indignant huff, "Yeah, yeah, we can be..." He took a few breaths and let his entire body relax for a long moment, then opened his eyes, glancing between the red-head and the former thief, "You're right, KP, sorry..." He smiled at Kim and reached up to caress her face with his palm, then gave Shego a searching look, "And sorry, to you too, Shego... I know you probably didn't need to hear it..."

"It's..." Shego started, her voice strained as if she hadn't spoken for weeks, "It's fine, both of you... I lived with it for years, now, I think I'll be okay..." She shook her head when they opened their mouths to protest, "Guys, seriously... If... If you're willing to be there for me... If I need to talk, I promise I won't hesitate, 'kay? I mean... I probably will need to talk, to someone... You guys, a counselor, I don't know..."

She took a deep breath and held it, before letting it out in a long, forceful exhalation, "I... Haven't had many friends for years, 'cept for Drew, and for a while, Junior... Then there was a couple of the henches that were drinkin' buddies, but that doesn't make for trusting someone with shit like... Like this... And... The way you guys reacted? I'm not used to it... With having people believe me..." She chuckled with a tone of remorse that once would have drawn a feeling of disgust at the weakness it implied, but now gave her a feeling of liberation she hadn't felt since before college. "I... I could do a lot worse for friends than you tw-... You _three_, huh?"

Rufus gave an agreeing squeak, drawing a misty eyed smile from Shego, and Ron nodded in agreement with his buddy, "Probably." Ron retorted with an impudent smirk, then his tone became serious. "And, honestly, Shego... You didn't have to share all that with us, and... I'm pretty sure KP'll agree with me, it means a lot... That you'd trust us with that, y'know?"

"Yeah, it does..." Kim said, and Shego nodded her understanding, "Seriously, Shego… I can't believe how much shit you went through… Oh, God, that sucks…" The red-head cocked her head and smiled slightly, "I guess… I can see why you went evil. I thought I had it bad, but…"

"Kimmie…" Shego said, walking back to the table and sitting down. On a whim she returned the earlier gesture Kim had given, gently grasping Kim's hand in her own, "You went from being, well, who you were, and where you came from, into what amounts to a lion's den… Don't discount what happened to you over the course of thee _months_ for what happened to me over the course of three _years_…"

"Um, 'kay… But you went through a lot more than I did..." Kim blushed slightly as Shego favored her with a gaze that suggested dropping it. After a moment she asked, "Um, Shego... Do you have any idea why Hego does that whole... 'Attracted to evil' spiel about you?"

"No idea," Shego shrugged nonchalantly. Kim, Ron and Rufus could all see it was false bravado, but said nothing, letting Shego bring some of her defenses back up. She didn't seem to acknowledge it, but they got the impression she was grateful, even as her voice regained some of its usual biting edge.

"If my give a damn was still broken when it comes to him, I'd think it was to avoid bad press, but..." She shrugged, then absently started to run her index finger over Kim's knuckles the strokes gentle, "Being with Drew helped me grow up a bit or something, 'cause I can actually think about it... Best I can figure is that he realized how much he'd hurt me, so he's blocked the whole thing out, compartmentalized it so deep he can't even remember it. I dunno, though..."

Kim nodded as she assimilated that. After a few minutes of silence, a smile graced her features, "So, you said all this is part of the reason Vivian was angry at you when you ran into each other at that cafeteria?"

"Oh, yeah…" Shego chuckled, "No, I didn't tell her any of this... Just some Cliff's Notes... Y'see, I kinda ran into her after quitting Team Go and telling GJ to shove it…"

"And?" Ron asked, drawing Shego's face to him.

"She busted me shoplifting a cell-phone…" Shego chuckled, "I mean, I've been a klepto since I was thirteen. I mostly had a handle on it, and would only take things like candy bars, that kinda thing… But after I left the team, I needed money, since Hego had all of my legitimate funds frozen…"

"She didn't turn you in, I take it?" Ron prodded, and Shego shook her head.

"Nope, but she did read me the riot act…" Shego grimaced, "I told her to shove it and walked off… And she called out to me, saying she was willing to help me, but if I kept my back to her, well…" She shrugged, and began unconsciously running the tip of her index finger along the knuckles of Kim's index and middle finger. "It's all in the past, I guess…"

"Doesn't sound like it…" Kim said softly, startling Shego with her sincerity.

"Well, maybe not…" Shego smiled, her finger's movements changing from absently stroking the knuckles to just as absently stroking the webbing between Kim's fingers with gentle, but strangely persistent pressure. After a few minutes of silence, she let out a startled laugh. "But at least part of it is! And getting Drew together with one of my ex-girlfriends helped…" She sighed and disengaged her hand from the younger woman's to scrub at her eyes and face, missing the note of disappointment that flashed across the heroine's features.

Ron didn't miss it, nor did he miss the fact that Kim started blushing from Shego's unconscious actions. Just as Kim opened her mouth to say something that Ron knew would embarrass both women, he glanced at the TV. "Oh, no, we missed part of the game!"

Kim's mouth snapped shut with a click and she glanced at the clock, a thankful look briefly flashing over her face, "Eh, only about five minutes. Looks like they haven't even finished one down yet…"

"Still… Doesn't look like Brick's QB, but he might play, and I don't want to miss his big debut if he does!" Ron stood and quickly grabbed the plates. He put them back on the carrier and carried it to the door, placing it just outside and then making sure all three locks were solidly in place before jogging over to the couch in front of the TV.

"Your fiancé is weird, Kimmie…" Shego said with a strangely subdued expression on her face. She stood and went around the table towards the bathroom, neither of them realizing Rufus had jumped from the table and snuck into Kim and Ron's room.

"Yeah," Kim agreed with a smile, and Shego paused as the red-head continued, "But I like weird!" She glanced at Shego and stood, reaching out impulsively to draw the older woman into a hug, "I'm sorry you went through so much shit, Shego…"

"I know…" Shego whispered back, not bothering to comment on Kim's use of a curse word. It was quite apropos, after all! "It's okay, Pumpkin… Really…" Shego took in a deep breath as Kim let go, and glanced down into the younger woman's eyes, seeing sympathy, and knew the red-head had left some things unspoken, questions unasked, for which she was thankful. "Thanks…"

Kim didn't ask for what, only nodded and replied, "Thanks to you, too, Shego…"

Kim released the older woman and stood back, before turning and walking to the couch, "I'll wait for you to go first…" she called back with a faint grimace.

"Oh. If you're sure, then okay…" Shego sighed and glanced at the clock, giving a rueful chuckle, "Damn… Nearly four-twenty back home…"

Rufus, standing next to her ankle, tapped the bony protrusion and she glanced down, an eyebrow raised at his furtive manner. In his hands, hidden from Kim and Ron by Shego's leg and his back, were two white cylinders that had a very slight ovoid shape.

Shego's eyes widened slightly before leaning down to offer her hand to him, and he jumped up, running to her shoulder and leaving the objects in her hand. She palmed them and glanced at him, whispering, "Germany's laws are still kinda strict on that, Bud, and my medicinal card doesn't carry any weight here..." Rufus shrugged, winking at her, and she shook her head fondly, "I guess you're a recreational smoker?"

Rufus shrugged and held up a hand, waving it in a fifty-fifty gesture, but his smile was a sickly sweet, innocent thing that drew a raised eyebrow from Shego. "If you say so... I kinda have an idea for the perfect spot, so if you're sharing..." Rufus nodded happily and Shego carefully palmed what was in her hand, calling out to the other two occupants, "Hey, I'm going to go get some air, and Rufus said he wants some too. We'll be back in a li'l bit, 'kay?"

"Sure!" Ron called, and Kim waved in a vague fashion as Shego walked out of the room.

Shego glanced down at Rufus, "Bud… You're a lifesaver!"

Rufus nodded and answered with a surprisingly clear, "No problemo!" as Shego closed the door and turned towards the elevator…

**Author's Notes**

Ok, no action this time, but... I hope the read was worth it. ^_^ This chapter was a challenge for me, as I tried to portray a, to my knowledge, fairly original reason for Shego leaving Team Go. Yes, there's a lot unsaid, and, yes, there's hints at more... Hopefully, they'll all make sense in time.

As to the story... Poor Shego. To go through so much, and then to have a brother that doesn't even acknowledge it happened? As Kim said, "I can see why you went evil." And the fact that she trusts them so that she'd reveal such pain and loss is proof that, even when she's down in the dumps, Kim Possible really can do anything, non?

The question remains, however, if this helped Kim... Time, of course, will tell. I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you continue to enjoy the fic in general. As always, great thanks go to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work, and remember, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember to review the fics ya like!


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Forward**

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations.

animeaddict007: thanks, while I rather dislike what could be borderline - or outright - character bashing (Hego, in this case), there are reasons for his actions and attitude, but that's for the future... As for the hand thing, well... It fit with the moment. And yes, Shego/Vivian Porter... Very, _very_ yum!

And a quick apology for getting this out so late on Saturday, but RL kinda interfered. Anyway... On with the fic!

Quick addition to the forward: thanks to Pesterfield pointing it out, I've fixed a problem with Slim's age vs. Joss', and made the situation around her birth a little bit clearer. The age itself was something I'd missed in my final beta before posting this chapter, 'cause I'd thought I'd fixed it, but I hadn't. It's fixed now, though. ^_^ Sorry about that!

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Dr. Director, ma'am!" Will slowed his quick stride and stood to, saluting his superior officer with parade ground precision. All this despite the obvious physical and mental exhaustion made manifest in the dark, puffy lower eyelids and the slightly pallid color of his skin, "As acting Director General, I must regretfully inform you that you are to be placed in temporary custody until such time as this section is searched, and your certain identity is confirmed by investigators outside of your chain of command."

Betty returned the salute, sighing slightly, "I understand, Acting Director General Du, I stand relieved until completion of the appropriate measures are taken."

Will relaxed his stance and sighed slightly, "It's good t'see ya in one piece, ma'am."

"It's good to _be_ in one piece, Will." Betty smiled slightly, despite her obvious exhaustion, and the bruise manifesting itself on her right cheekbone, "I found at least one of the moles, it seems..."

Will followed the vague wave to a thoroughly trussed GJ Europe Second Agent Magnusson. Will opened his mouth to speak, but took a moment to close his eyes and take a deep breath, continuing with ironclad control of his voice, "It seems so, ma'am. If you'd follow me, EU Director Depardieu and I will escort you to your room while the forensics teams investigate."

"Betty." Director Depardieu nodded at her, a rueful smile on his face, "Quite a mess you found, here."

"Indeed, Durant." Betty chuckled mirthlessly, "It seems my brother decided to strike near the top this time. I'm afraid Magnusson was quite livid that I'd found him." She leaned close, as if worried about spying devices, moving her mouth out of phase with her words, and whispering to them, "Same as last time, Will. I must warn you, he had a Mk. XV Voice Modulator, be careful, you two."

Will nodded and acted as if nothing was wrong, "Of course, ma'am. Forensics will be here soon, as I said, so this shouldn't take more than fifteen hours. We'll have you back in the clear ASAP."

Betty gave him a brief flash of a genuine smile and nodded, speaking quietly, "Thank you, Will. But don't cut corners on my account..."

Will smirked and nodded, the gesture quite opposed to the tone of his following words, "Of course not ma'am, six to eight hours of investigation and about seven hours of double and triple checking." He turned away from her and was glad he was taking the lead. He was also glad he'd known the woman the smirk was borrowed from. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to keep his brows from knitting at the subtle... Offness in Betty's overall bearing.

He pursed his lips as they awaited the elevator, attempting to ascertain exactly what the problem was. Yes, he could chalk it up to their mutual exhaustion, the situation, and apparently being attacked by Second Agent Magnusson. But he would be lying to himself if he did. One of the things he'd learned during his time as a by-the-book, anal retentive ass - so his mother had called him - was how to worry on a problem like a dog with a bone.

He could literally shove the problem into a corner of his mind so he could ponder the issue with an insignificant impact to his overall mental capabilities. Most people could do this, but not consciously. They would concentrate and worry at a problem consciously, until boredom, need or happenstance had them thinking on a different subject, when the answer would strike them out of the blue, so to speak. His gift, as some called it, was to consciously compartmentalize the problem, set a small portion of thought to the problem, and go about his duties as if he had forgotten the problem altogether. The gift had allowed him to rise from a basic agent to fifteenth highest ranking agent in four years.

Unfortunately, he was rather rusty at using it; he had rarely put this to use during his nearly six year long funk, but the last three months, he had worked the system out and then some. He knew he had his mother to thank for it, for which he was immensely grateful. Being stuck as a living statue because of a rather spectacular break up, not to mention soon after making the biggest mistake of his career had been, in short, stupidity incarnate! _And almost ended my career..._ he barely repressed a self-deprecating snort, _I guess it's a good thing that I stuck at Betty's side, and she'd always hoped I'd snap out of that 'funk', or I wouldn't be in my current position at all..._

He shook the thoughts off as the elevator slid open, and Director Depardieu preceded Betty in. Will followed directly behind Betty, and taking station at a rear corner of the elevator car yet never taking his eyes from her person, while at the same time keeping his attention focused for outside threats. All done as per escort protocols.

The ride up was silent, and Will found himself thinking back to the break up that had led to the near career ending mistake. It had been just before summer officially started, and he was being shown around the home of the young lady in question. She'd been beautiful then, and, he admitted, she was even more beautiful now, at least the last time he'd seen her.

He still wondered what would have happened if he'd have been able to talk to her before she'd skipped town. But... That wasn't meant to be. C'est la vie, as Durant would say. Besides, he had other... Possibilities now. _Still..._ he sighed unobtrusively to himself _If things worked out the right way..._

Again his musing was cut short by the elevator's doors opening, and he followed Director Depardieu and Betty out into the apartment section of the base. Will coughed "Ma'am, you are going to have to relinquish all of your weapons and gear."

"Of course, Will." Betty said with the slightest air of annoyance. She quickly relieved herself of her weapons and gear, and if her expression was any indication, she'd have felt less naked if she'd have been stripped of her clothing and ordered to walk down the _Avenue des Champs-Élysées_ in Paris.

Director Depardieu quickly waved a wand over her body and nodded, "Scanned and EM bathed, nothing."

"Thank you, Durant." Betty said in an ironic tone, and nodded to them, "I await word from the forensics teams, gentlemen."

"Good night, ma'am." Will said, the slightest edge of concern in his voice, "Try and get some sleep, ma'am. You've earned it, and you're going to be incommunicado for the duration."

Betty gave him a look that seemed annoyed, but there was a subtle, fond glint in her eye as she said, "Thank you, Will. I'll consider it."

As soon as she was in the apartment, she smirked and glanced around. It was small, barely thirty square meters, and barely two and a half in height. There was a small shower stall and vanity to her left, an in-wall and a cabinet style closet a little further along the same wall. To her right was a regular sized bed, a mini-refrigerator with a microwave on top of it, and above that, in-wall comm. panel which was ominously dark.

The walls were against what most would consider common sense for such a utilitarian place as a spy agency's apartment; they were a soft blue-gray in color, and the ceiling and carpeted floor were a very soothing, soft yellow. The woman's smirk widened as a stray thought crossed her mind, _I've been in smaller rooms..._

She barely held in a laugh as she heard a distinctive buzz above and slightly to her right. She glanced up and saw a small, black shape coming straight at her from the vent. She cocked her head slightly as the shape resolved itself into the shape of a fly. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a fly, but not a biological one. It was a 'fly on the wall' device, and she seemed to pout slightly.

"Is this who I think it is?" she whispered conspiratorially, and the fly bobbed once as if a person affirming her question, "Not my current keepers, then..."

The words were a statement, not a question, yet the fly slid left and right slightly, as if a person shaking their head negatively. A soft smile quickly replaced her pout, and she leaned closer, "Is this one of the lackeys?"

A negative slide.

"So it's really you, Sheldon?" she asked, somewhat breathlessly.

A hesitant, positive bobbing.

"None of your men are around?" she continued as she walked over to sit on the bed. The fly slid negatively, and she sighed nervously, "I... I was wondering, um, about what we talked about earlier, from Magnusson's hidden communications terminal? H-have you thought about what I asked you, Sheld-... Sh-Shelly? Are you still... Interested?"

The fly started to bob positively, then slid negatively, both happening a few times so the fly moved in a drunken diamond.

Betty laughed nervously, and bit her lip, looking up at the fly through her bangs, a sight she hoped was deliciously demure, "Shelly... I, um... You... You were right, Shelly... I've missed you, but..."

The fly buzzed and turned where it hung, as if a petulant sibling were turning away. Betty sighed, swallowing audibly, before continuing, "Shelly? Shelly, I'm... I'm sorry, for what I said when we last talked. I-I... I was shocked!" The fly turned halfway back around, and Betty made sure to look as contrite as possible, her eye shining as if about to break into tears, "I mean... You're my _brother_... How... How was I to know you felt the same way I did?"

The fly listed dangerously left, almost hitting the closet, and then meandered unsteadily right, as if the operator had started to faint, and regained control at the last second. Betty giggled slightly, her seeming nervousness dissipating. "I'm sorry, Shelly, but... I guessed honesty would be best, at this point?" The fly flew forward and so close to her nose that she had to flinch back slightly to see it. "Hey! You're acting like you don't believe me..."

Again the fly took to an agitated, drunken diamond flight pattern before settling into a hover, and she could just picture Gemini throwing his hands up and pacing back and forth, ranting at her seeming obliviousness. After a moment the flight resumed, the fly moving up and down in a diagonal path. "Was that a shrug?"

The fly slid a negative.

"A maybe, then?" she all but begged.

A positive bob, and a long sigh from Betty.

"Would..." A nervous swallow from Betty was followed by an equally nervous titter, "If... If I, um... Showed you how I felt... What I think ab-about, when I..." She swallowed again, and then finished in a rush, "If I showed you, maybe you'd believe me?" She looked down as if hurt. When she heard the fly buzzing again, she looked back up through her bangs, biting her lip and letting her breathing quicken slightly. The fly was bobbing up and down, and she bit back the desire to smirk triumphantly. Something the woman had a lot of experience with.

"O-okay... Um..." She looked back down again, drawing her hands to her lap and clasping her fingers, nervously running her thumbs around each other. She looked away, a blush staining her cheeks, "H-how about I show you what... What I think about when I, um... When I'm aroused? And... And alone, and show you how I deal with it... Um, would you believe me then?"

The fly sat in a hover for several long seconds, before committing a slow bob. Licking her lips, she pointed a the wall above her bed and blushed deeply, "I'll... I'll really be able to get into it today... Um, wi-with you watching..." she swallowed and gave the fly as soulful, open a look as she could, and her voice dropped to a faint, hopeful whisper, "B-Big Brother..."

The fly dropped slightly this time, then climbed almost drunkenly to hover above her by almost five feet, before carefully maneuvering over to the wall. It alighted with its head pointing upwards, but quickly fixed the position to look down upon her, and Betty's blush deepened. Carefully, she began to slide her finger along the seam sealing device Porter, Lipsky and Load, LLC had put in the new uniforms for Global Justice. Instead of a metal zipper, it was a plastic that sealed against itself like Velcro, but silently, and was proof against all known chemical and biological agents.

Slowly, centimeter by centimeter, her ample bosom was revealed, showing off a lacy, sexy bra that wouldn't have looked out of place as part of an expensive set of lingerie. Still biting her lip, she shrugged out of the one piece uniform, letting it slide from her arms in a slow, erotic fashion. When those powerfully built arms slipped from the sleeves, she allowed her hands to brush over her breasts, hissing as her now rough palms brushed over her sensitive flesh, and glanced at the fly, her eyes half lidded in desire, "Only for you, now, Big Brother... _Only_ for you..."

She barely repressed a crow of laughter as she raised her rump from the bed to slide the uniform over her shapely hips. She did snort lightly, barely turning it into a fond sounding chuckle when the fly crawled down the wall slightly, as if Gemini had been leaning forward onto the controls to get a closer look. _Oh, this is going to be _so_ easy,_ she thought with a mix of disdain and triumph, _Whoever said that revenge was difficult? And _no one_ said it was so much _fun_!_

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

_Well, _this_ is interesting..._ Rufus thought as he stared up at the night sky, a goofy grin on his face. 'This' being the fact that he was smoking a very high quality cannabis with Shego, lying on top of the roof vent for a cooking line's hood. That roof vent in turn sat atop _Das Himmelsicht_, the restaurant on the highest floor of Munich's Hausmann Suites hotel. All in all, he felt very happy, _very_ mellow and very, _very_ amused at how well things were working out.

Normally, he'd have preferred a strain of pot with more of a 'body high', as opposed to the 'head high' of the strain he'd sneakily purchased in Team Possible's Quebec stopover. The reason was arthritis, from the years of abuse he'd put his body through helping his human as a part of Team Possible. Not that he had a problem with that, of course! Far from it; the cannabis did, however, help him stay pretty much pain free and ready for action, even if it gave him a near supernatural appetite, and made him sleep in Ron's pocket a lot.

He glanced over at his toking partner and let out a lazy, "Y'good?"

Shego blinked and looked back at him, smirking from her upside down position atop the hood vent shroud, which had been off for the last half hour. She held up a fist, which he tapped a tiny fist into, "Yaya... This's good shit, Bud... Quebec Gold?"

Rufus gave her a thumbs up, and leaned back against the woman's shoulder. "Y'know, I love this stuff when I've got really bad anxiety goin', y'know?"

Rufus looked back at her and squeaked, "Ah. Med'cal?"

"Yeah..." she sighed, "It was the only thing I could do to deal with the miscarriage without Greg flippin' out... Um, Greg's Hego..."

"Uh, huh!" Rufus nodded his understanding, "Saw Bueno N'cho man'gers list!"

"Hehe, good thing, that! I mean, he'd _flip_ if he found out I'd said his name..." Shego chuckled, "Idiot."

"Uh, huh!" Rufus agreed again, then chittered a vague protest as Shego flipped into a half sitting position, only to twist around and flop back onto her belly to favor him with a serious look. A look that was thoroughly ruined when her now short hair tickled his belly and he giggled like an idiot.

"Sorry, Bud..." She smiled at him, shaking her head a little to tickle him a bit more, "Y'know, dude, you're more awesome than I though you'd be... I mean, I know ya were cool when Electronique flipped my brain, but you were _such_ an annoyance when Dr. D. was tryin' to take over the world."

"M'job!" Rufus squeaked, then patted her face, "Is okay."

"Thanks for not holdin' it against me, dude." Shego chuckled, "Dammit, sometimes I _hate_ how random I am when I'm baked... And I always hate how much I like to say 'dude'... And I am _really_ baked right now, dude..."

Rufus gave a wordless chuckle at Shego's frustrated, ambling thoughts, then pouted slightly in worry, "Ron 'n' KP?"

"If they knew, they'd pro'ly be okay..." Shego said sagely, "I mean, I got a card an all... I mean, for God's sake, we _shared_ a _meal_, I dunno why they'd have a problem with me smokin' with ya if I had a card, and... Wait, d'you have a card?"

"Kinna?" Rufus said, attempting to pantomime an answer with words.

"Um..." Shego pondered a moment, scrunching her face comically in concentration, "Y'got it from a vet that specializes in mutant and near human intellect animals, I'm guessin'?"

"Yup!" Rufus cried, holding out a fist to her for a bump.

"Y'know, those things are only good for vet supplied things like Cannabine Plus, you goof..." Shego said as she nonetheless returned the bump, shaking her head in amusement as Rufus tried to look innocent. Then she pushed herself up on her elbows, her face a mask of confused concern and pointed to the restaurant below them, "Speakin' of sharin' a meal... Didja see if Kimmie or Ronnie ate from their utensils before we all shared, dude?"

"Um..." Rufus thought back, having watched the meal with strange intensity, and wondering if Shego had noticed. When her gaze was merely curious, he shrugged, "Ron, yup! KP?" He shrugged but tried his pantomime that Ron seemed to understand instinctively.

"Um... I dunno what you're sayin', bud..." Shego shrugged helplessly, and then Rufus made some more gestures and squeaks, more agitated in his movements. "Um, somethin' about the bowl?"

Rufus nodded, but sighed in greater frustration, making a few gestures unconsciously, "Hey, no need to cuss humans out lik-..." Shego paused as she realized what she'd just seen and gasped in shock, "Wait, dude! You know how to use A.S.L.?"

Rufus looked back with wide, startled eyes. He blushed, then hesitantly nodded, using a slightly modified version of American Sign Language, due to his lacking five fingers, to carefully sign, "Yes, Kim babysat a girl for a while that was deaf, and Ron was always over and the girl liked me. She saw how smart I was before anyone else but Ron, and I learned from her, but Ron could not, and she could read lips so KP never had to."

"Dude!" Shego crowed in a drawn out, happy croon. She picked him up and hugged him to her face, her concerns of a moment earlier forgotten, "I had to learn an alternate language for my teaching degree, so I took A.S.L.! This is awesome!"

"Really? A'sum'!" Rufus squeaked aloud, then returned to their last conversation topic, signing, "KP did not eat from her spoon, but she ate from the same spot you and Ron did and you did eat the chunk of turkey she tossed at you earlier at the Fest."

"Um, I only caught that out of the corner of my eye..." Shego blushed slightly, remembering grabbing a hunk of turkey Kim had thrown at her out of the air, "Tell me she didn't take it from her mouth..."

Rufus had a suspicion as to why Shego seemed suddenly so nervous, but he decided not to be mean spirited. He shook his head, but held up a cautionary finger, before signing, "No, but she ate her turkey right from the leg, not tearing pieces off like you did."

"Dude..." Shego blinked, "I never knew you were that perceptive..."

"Is a gift!" Rufus squeaked aloud, smirking at her.

"I guess..." Shego smirked back, then her expression sobered again, "anyway... She'd eaten part of that piece, right?" Shego winced as Rufus nodded with that chuckle, "Hey, 's not funny, dude! Seriously, that's like... Oh, God, I didn't..." She buried her face in her hands, a bright flush of embarrassment easily visible going to the crown of her head to halfway down her neck.

"Wha's wrong?" Rufus squeaked since she couldn't see him at the moment.

"Oh, nothing much!" Shego moaned despairingly, "It's just that, since I first became interested in boys, and later girls, that's how I judge if someone's cool with me. I mean, if they can eat from my plate, and don't have any issues with me eatin' from theirs... And it's, well, kinda, sorta... I didn't do it, like, consciously, but I did it!"

"Wha'?" Rufus squeaked in frustration as she danced around the point. He sighed lightly in relief as she finally dropped her hands and spoke.

"I'm sorry, dude, getting all drama here..." Shego seemed to calm herself, and explained in an embarrassed tone, "I don't normally do that? I mean, not even the bed buddies I've had since I left Team Go, y'know?"

"Hernk?" Rufus stated dumbly. He thought he'd read her right, but she was being evasive and rather obtuse, and he favored her with a near glare for making him think so hard in his altered mindset.

"Hmmm?" Shego gazed at his frustrated, half-hearted scowl, and sighed, "Sorry, dude... Um, I meant when I offered Ronnie a bit of my stew and was all shy and shit like he was with the fish? An' then I was teasin' Princess with catchin the turkey, um... I kinda use that as a first base sorta thing, y'know, germ swappin'?"

Rufus stared at her for a moment, carefully schooling his features into the appropriate level of surprise, consternation and sympathetic embarrassment, but inside he was laughing like a supervillain. After an appropriate time of seeming to be startled, he smiled softly and patted her cheek, then hesitantly signed, "Can I share a secret?"

Shego leaned in close, using her arms and what was left of her hair to shield him from anyone potentially spying on them. It did occur to her that the action could be construed as quite silly. After all, they were atop a restaurant, that was atop a fifteen story building, with no other buildings tall enough to look at or down on them within a kilometer. Only a helicopter, a voyeur with a telescope or camera equipped with super telephoto lens or a _really_ bored recon satellite operator stood a chance of seeing them!

But she didn't care. Even outside of her altered state of mind, she would respect his privacy with a similar action. And sitting there, with a stronger head change than she'd had for months, she couldn't help herself as she made it as private as she could. _Thank God my night sight is so awesome!_ she thought to herself with a grin.

That grin quickly faded as Rufus began to sign, however. The more he said to her, the bigger and bigger her eyes got, the shock visible on her face becoming more blatant and her expression more incredulous. Finally, Rufus said something to her that had her gaping at him, her eyes blinking against the sudden, unexpected surge of tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"I..." Shego choked, "I don't know, Bud..." She thought about his comments, in the way only someone baked half out of their minds could. After a few minutes, she gave him a smile that mingled vivid happiness, uncertainty and remembered pain, but was bright and hopeful. She compulsively hugged him to her face gently, "I'll see, okay? And if there's... If there's any interest, I'll... I'll give it a try, 'kay?"

"Pr'mise?" Rufus squeaked and Shego nodded, seemingly scared to speak aloud. "Bad'cal!" Rufus cheered, hugging her back with such glee that it startled the pale woman.

She was about to make a comment at his exuberance when a flash of lightening preceded a few patters of water, followed by a subdued yet strangely comforting roll of thunder. Rufus and Shego looked up and Shego started giggling like a schoolgirl with a crush, "I guess it's a good thing we finished a bit ago, eh, Bud?"

"Yup yup!" Rufus agreed, looking at the very light sprinkling of rain. The real rain wasn't supposed to hit Munich for another day or two, but the weather report he'd seen in the lobby said to expect light showers off and on starting a little after midnight.

He sighed, shivering slightly as a drop landed on his body, and found himself surprised as Shego carefully picked him up and opened the top buttons of her blouse, "Don't get any ideas..." She giggled as Rufus blushed and blew a raspberry at her. He quickly scrambled into her shirt, once again glad that human sexuality held no interest to him beyond the merely academic. He was careful to keep her modesty intact as he snuggled into her cleavage and gave her a thumbs up. "Okay, bud, let's get outta the rain, eh?"

"Yup!" Rufus chirped happily. Despite the cold, his mood wasn't dampened in the least; after all, his crazy plan might just work out in the end...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Felix felt like his entire body was a large, unsightly bruise. Well, at least the parts he could feel. His arms, torso, neck and groin all ached like he'd done a full day workout, without stopping. He let out a soft sigh and slowly forced his eyes open, thankful that the room's lights were dimmed. Even so, he had to screw his eyes shut as pain lanced through his brain at the invading light.

After a few moments he tried again, and was successful enough to keep his eyes open despite the headache he felt coming on. He tried to look around, but the muscles of his neck bunched up painfully, stopping the endeavour. Instead, he settled for sighing asking, "Anyone get the license number of that hangover?"

He knew it wasn't from a hangover, but the last thing he remembered was tying up one of the guys he and Joss had stopped. That thought snapped him to the present, and he felt a brief surge of worry, which quickly abated when the Montanan's voice rang out through the room, "It's 'bout time ya woke up, Wings!" Her words were filled with bravado, but even without seeing her face, Felix could hear the worried undertones.

Felix swallowed against a dry throat, trying to convince himself that her worry had no effect on him by using some bravado of his own, "Hey, Joss, did we get 'em all?"

"Yeah, we got 'em..." was all he heard from her. He realized his voice must have sounded as rough as it felt when he saw her move to stand over him with a water filled plastic hospital mug.

_Wow, she moves quieter than Kim and Ron did the last time I hung out with them..._ He continued to ponder this as he lifted a sore arm and managed to hold the mug while sipping. Joss sat back down just as silently, but watched his every move as if he'd disappear if she didn't. When he finished, he favored her with what he hoped was a neutral smile, "How long have I been out?"

"Ya been out somewhere 'round an hour and a half..." the auburn haired teen answered in a low tone, "But I still don' b'lieve we missed t'guy th't took y'down..." She gazed up and down his body, shuddering slightly, "Wings... Y-y'almost..."

"What, Joss?" his tone was calm, but there was a note of worry in his tone and eyes, both of which intensified as he realized her accent had thickened considerably in the short time he'd been awake. Carefully, he brought his head up to look at her, "I almost what?"

"When t'ambulance got there," she said after a moment, and neither of them heard the near silent click as the door closed, nor the nearly silent motion as a tall, lanky man leaned against the door itself, "Th' EMTs said tha' it was a good thin' the suit was on ya, blocked a lotta th' current... We were jus' lucky th' pack didn' explode!"

She looked down at the floor, her hands wringing in her lap worriedly. Felix felt a brash instinct to grab her hands to still them, but he couldn't. He couldn't risk encouraging her desire for him, nor his own for her. _It's for the best, right?_ he asked himself, _I mean, when the time comes, we'll separate and it'll be the Zita thing all over again..._ Despite what he considered his rational mind's tentative agreement, his heart felt like it spasmed as he saw a tear slip free of the Montanan's eyes.

"No worries!" Felix forced a smile and a laugh, "Just a bit sore... Give me a day or two and some Zombie Mayhem-..."

"Y'almost died 'cause of that!" she choked, looking up at him with guilty eyes as if his joking made her feel worse, "Y'got a shitload'a juice through your bod, an'... An'..."

"Joss..." Felix said as reassuringly as he could, "I'm alrig-..."

"No, yer _not_ awright!" Joss snapped, interrupting him, "Evereh goddamn muscle in ya whole damn body was locked when th' juice hit, even yer heart!" She was standing in an instant, her left hand grabbing the plastic railing next to his arm, her other reaching across him to grab the other. She ended up with nose less than an inch away from his, and all but spat when she spoke, "Ya could'a died, 'Lex! I... Dammitall, I thought ya'd gone an' tried _dyin'_ on me yet here ya are jokin' 'bout it, actin' like it was nothin' but a li'l bump on th' head!" Joss choked slightly, pausing to swallow against the catch in her throat, "I don' wanna lose ya, 'Lex, you're too importan' t'me..."

"Joss..." Felix sighed, "It wasn't anything lethal, right? And what was that last part supposed to mean?" Felix frowned as the auburn haired teen looked down, her breath washing down the neck of his hospital gown becoming shallower as she tried to control her rising anger.

"Y'know damn good 'n' well what it means!" she rasped, eyes wide in shock that he'd have any questions about it.

"I know what you've said, Joss," Felix said, then snapped his mouth shut. He didn't want to get into this argument again, so he laid his head back into his pillow, staring up above Joss' head, and finally turning his face to the side, facing the vitals monitor to his right. Anything to keep from looking into the Montanan's hurt, desperately angry eyes.

He knew how she felt about him, but he didn't want to risk being hurt again. More importantly to him, he didn't want to risk hurting _Joss_! His breakup with Zita, while amiable, had hurt the both of them far more than they'd expected, after all. He'd put up a brave front to everyone, but a few people, such as Ron, Rufus and Wade, knew how much of a blow it had been. Especially when Zita had tearfully apologized that she'd already signed her acceptance paperwork for Florida State University.

She'd told him she was worried that, being university students, a long distance relationship wouldn't work. And that didn't even take into account the hell he'd go through at airports or the like! Not to mention, she was a cute, decisive, and aggressive young woman. She'd countered that he was a driven, claimed he was a damn good looking man, he knew he was as intelligent as she claimed and he knew lots of people though his sense of humor was awesome, if a bit ironic and dry. Well, that's what she'd said in simplified terms, and she'd further assured him that those were good qualities for any man to have, let alone one with his disadvantages.

He'd taken her words at their face value, but after a few rather derisive comments from other students at the university, he'd begun to doubt it. Even if a few of his friends, Joss included, told him it was jealousy. _Jealousy!_ Felix almost snorted out loud, _What could Chris Dziedzic, one of the best looking men at the school, be jealous of _me_ about?_

He knew that, in high school, things like that happened a lot, but he was at a university! Back biting, teenage politics, Bonnie's so called food chain, and things like that weren't paid the slightest bit of attention. At least, that's how it was supposed to go. Granted, he was popular, due to his attitude and willingness to help, and he'd made dozens of friends, but that shouldn't mean anything, or give someone a reason to be jealous of him, right?

He felt Joss' fingers on his chin and let her turn his face back to hers, and realized it was a mistake. There was a shimmer of unshed tears in her eyes, and when she spoke, there was a slight catch in her voice. "Do ya, 'Lex?" she begged him, "Or are ya readin' th' wrong shit inta what I want with ya? Dammit, what I feel isn't some stupid crush, and you're not just some random dude!"

With a sigh, he closed his eyes, "It's not like you'd have trouble finding someone that'd be better for you than _I_ could ever be..." He hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud until he heard both Joss' sharp intake of breath and a few shuffling footsteps as she staggered back. That gasp had his heart screaming at him to stop, but his heart had little sway over his mind at that moment, and he continued with what he'd tried to say the prior day. She was younger than him, and she deserved someone that was... Whole, who had other positive attributes than just his brain. _Zita was just trying to make me feel better about it, right?_

After he was sure he could speak in a steady voice he continued his unintentional comment, keeping his eyes closed resolutely. He tried to ignore the little voice screaming that he was wrong, that it _wasn't_ for the best, "Don't act so shocked, Joss! _Ron's_ had two more girlfriends than I have, and one of _mine_ was one of _his_ ex girlfriends at that!

"Bullshit!" Joss barked, and he almost cracked an eye open, but resolved to get this over with as painlessly as possible.

"No..." Felix sighed, closing his eyes tighter, "My first girlfriend was in junior high, and when her mother found out I was crippled, she forbade it, on the grounds that I'm obviously not healthy enough for _her_ daughter... Kinda turned me off of the idea of girlfriends 'til the end of my senior year, when Zita convinced me to go out with her. And yeah, Zita and I broke up on good terms, her scholarship took her to the east coast..." He sighed, opening his eyes to favor Joss with an expression that mingled hurt and despondence. "Two girlfriends, Joss! I lost my first one 'cause I'm half working, the other one 'cause we're separated by half a continent, which'll probably happen again when I've graduated!"

"And you don' think I'll graduate at th' same time _you_ do? Or that I woudn't go wit'cha wherever ya go?" Joss hissed in a whisper, trying to keep her voice from exploding into an angry roar.

"Joss..." Felix sighed, his eyebrows drawing together worriedly. _I just want what's best for you..._ he thought, barely keeping the words from his mouth. After a moment of silence, he spoke the first justification he could think of as to why their relationship wouldn't work, "Just 'cause my junk works doesn't mean I'm worth a relationshi-..."

He realized it was a mistake when he realized he was looking at the far wall from his bed, and the right side of his face stung from a vicious slap. His now open eyes swam with a dizzying spangle of stars for several seconds as Joss began to speaking. "I can not _believe_ you!" she choked out as he brought his stunned face around to look at her, "I just _can't_ friggin _believe_ you!

"Joss..." he started, only to pause in shock. He found not the angry, raging glare he expected, but a face drawn as if in physical agony, tears streaming down the side of her attractive face.

"I've been here at th' hospital an' at yer side since ya got here, 'Lex! An' tha's not t'mention th' _two weeks_ I spent trainin' wit' ya an' spendin' time wit' ya as a friend an' all that shit!" She choked back a few sobs, shaking her head in wonder at his stubbornness, before fixing him with a deadly gaze, "I've been by yer side every secon' I could! D'ya think if all I cared 'bout was yer dick that I'd _do_ somethin' like that, huh?" Her voice was barely lower than a yell, as if she were forcing herself to maintain control. Then she shocked Felix further by stepping forward and grabbing his crotch, barely below the threshold of pain, "D'ya think this is all I care 'bout? Don'cha think I wouldn't've gone out t'get some t'take my mind offa ya, 'specially with what happened t'day if that's _all_ I wanted, huh?"

Felix opened his mouth to speak, but the situation was rapidly spiraling out of control, and the powerful hand at his groin made him think again about what he wanted to say. After a moment of silence, he shrugged helplessly, hoping it was enough for her; he barely kept in a sigh of relief as she removed her hand.

As soon as her hand was free, however, the Montanan leaned forward and resumed her earlier position, leaning over his bed and grasping the railing. Felix he felt his nervousness spike as the plastic railings creaked alarmingly and the veins on Joss' powerful forearms stood out with the strain, "If that's all I wan'ed," she growled in barely repressed emotion, "I'd've gone after one'a th' pretty boys that's been tryin' to get in m'pants like that manslut, Dziedzic! Not stuck 'round th' dojos with ya, or in a hospital, hopin' and _prayin'_ ever' goddamn day that ya might be inter'sted in _datin'_ me after this stupid three days bullshit'a yers was done!"

"Joss..." Felix started, waving at his legs as if that said it all.

"I. Don't. Care!" She enunciated each word carefully, emphasizing them by squeezing briefly tighter against the railings, the plastic disturbingly close to cracking under her hands, "I like _you_, dammit, an' not _just_ sexu'lly!" She flinched slightly, as if thinking for a moment. "Yeah, that does mean I wanna take ya for a roll in th' hay, 'Lex... But not _jus'_ that? I mean, hell, as much as I like what I jus' felt down there, I like ya fer what's in your _head_ 'n' in yer _heart_ a whole _helluva_ lot more'n what's between yer legs..."

"But, Joss..." Felix sighed heavily, grasping at the air in frustration with his fingers held up like talons, "You're not even sixteen yet! I'm going to be nineteen in-..."

"We're less'n three years 'n' seven months diff'rence in age, 'Lex..." She hung her head as if defeated, "Look, if it's 'cause I'm young an' you're worried I'd jus' wanna screw ya as soon as we got together, I can wait. Hell, I jus' said that yer personality an' heart's more important t'me." She chuckled suddenly, startling Felix even more than the still stinging slap had, "B'sides... Th' age'a consent in Montana's sixteen, an' I turn sixteen at th' end'a nex' month... That leaves us with _months_ of leway, y'know?"

"You keep saying you're fine with me being a paraplegic, but _why_ would you even wanna _be_ with someone whose spending his life in a wheelchair?" Felix asked hotly, startling her, "I mean, you don't look sixteen, and you're hot, but dammit, I'm barely plain, an-..."

"Dammit, 'Lex..." She stopped with her mouth open, as if rethinking something she was about to say. Closing her eyes, she muttered something so quietly that Felix couldn't hear it, before leveling a glare at him. "I a'ready tol' ya don' care about that, dammit!" Joss finally hollered, "I don' care if you're half cripple' or all cripple'! An' since ya got a workin' brain ya should realize how many'a th' gals at MSU are interested in ya..."

Felix cocked his head as if confused, and Joss' voice calmed down to a slightly loud conversational level, "Seriously, 'Lex, y'got plenny'a women lookin' at ya... I mean, y'all're cute as hell, an amazin' sense'a humor, _an'_ ya got workin' organs! D'ya really think I _wouldn'_ want ya when y'seemed int'rested a few weeks ago? Or any woman wouldn't?"

Joss rolled her eyes, and indeed, her whole head, before finishing, her voice finally at an appropriate level for late night in a hospital, "_Jesus_, 'Lex, d'ya have _any_ idea how many women're pinin' after ya?" When Felix shook his head negatively, Joss sighed and stood, wiping the tears from her eyes before folding her arms across her chest, "Ya'd never hurt a woman ya were in a relationship with, right?"

"No..." Felix admitted after a moment, and tried to clamp his mouth shut. Unfortunately, his emotions had been riled up, and he griped, "And what about your dad? What would he say about you dating an older guy, huh?"

"He'd say you'd be better'n some'a the guys she's already hooked up with..." Slim Possible sighed, startling both teens as he pushed himself from the door and walked over to stand, opposite Joss, "An' y'better listen to 'er, Felix... She's a lot like 'er momma, which means she's aggressive when she's after someone... I'm jus' glad she's got her momma's good head on 'er shoulders, too, 'cause like she's said, you're a helluva catch..."

"Um..." Felix blanched slightly, the words coming out of Slim's mouth startling, to say the least.

"Shit, boy!" Slim chuckled, ignoring the glare his daughter had fixated upon him, "Would you _relax_? I'm _not_ my big brother Jimmy, so I'm _not_ gonna fly offa th' handle 'cause a boy looked at my li'l girl..."

"Thanks, Daddy..." Joss relaxed almost immediately, a relieved smile crossing her features.

"Your _big_ brother..." Felix blinked, his mouth outrunning his mind as Slim's chuckles increased for a moment, "I thought you were the older one..."

"Yeah," Slim said after a moment of chuckling that Joss and a nervous Felix joined in on, "So'd Annie when Jimmy introduced 'er t'me, and, hell, just 'bout ev'r'one that knows us thinks I'm the elder..." He let out a light snicker at Felix's embarrassed expression, shaking his head in mirth, "Heh, 'coure, callin' him Squirt' kinda gives that impression, don'it?"

"Yeah..." Felix agreed, his face still somewhat shellshocked.

"It had somethin' t'do with squirt guns an' Uncle James bein' a better shot, somethin' like that?" Joss gave her father a questioning look and he nodded.

"Yeah, back when we were jus' kids..." Slim smiled indulgently, then sighed, his tone becoming far more serious, "But that's a story fer later, 'kay? I'm serious 'bout what I said, Felix... So long as y'don't break my li'l girl's heart, no killer robot horses, no shotguns an' no worries from me..." He waited for Felix to relax slightly and to give him enough time to brace for the half explosion he expected from his daughter before finishing, "I mean, hell, jus' gimme some warnin', an' I'll make sure t'be outta the house, or away from the barn or th' workshop..."

"Daddy!" Joss gasped in shock, her ears, nose, brows and the crown of her head heating in embarrassment. Slim regarded Felix out of the corner of his eye, smirking slightly as he saw a similar blush spreading across the young man's face.

"Joss," Slim said like it was the most natural thing in the world, "If y'all're anythin' like yer momma? I might have t'have yer apartment here in Bozeman soundproofed..." Joss stared wide eyed at her father, and he smiled indulgently at her, "An' don' think I'm ignorant about you'n' Percy, or jus' how loud ya ge'..."

"Dammit, Daddy!" Joss interrupted, "I was tryin' t'talk about all that with Felix..."

"I know..." Slim smiled apologetically to his daughter and then reached out to lay a hand on Felix's shoulder, "An' I'm sorry, but part'a this is my fault..."

"What?" Felix croaked, and found his mug of water held up to his lips by a still blushing Joss.

"I can kinna figure out what happened, Felix," Slim muttered in a self-deprecating manner, "An' I'm sorry. I know y'were interested in guns 'n' huntin, so I was showin' off... I didn' think that you'd get worried 'bout me bein' like Jimmy, 'cause I didn' know y'knew 'im..." Slim sighed, "Or his 'black hole speech', for that matter..."

"Um..." Joss finally spoke up, "How'd y'find out about it, Daddy?"

"I called Annie, askin' for advice t'try an' get you two calmed down about datin'. When she asked if I'd given ya a speech like that, and said that y'were buddies with Ron..." he shrugged in a helpless manner, "Honestly, Felix, I had no idea that you might've been worried 'bout a relationship with my li'l girl 'cause'a me..."

"So..." Felix said after a few long moments of thought, "You'd be okay if we dated?"

"Son, I heard some'a what ya said t' Joss..." Slim admitted easily, "An' I want ya t'know she was raised better'n that first girl'a yours, an' like I said, she's like a _lot_ like 'er momma... She wouldn' let somethin' like a continent stop 'er from bein' with ya."

"Daddy..." Joss looked away to hide the tears in her eyes, and the mix of melancholy and pride on her face at being compared to her mother, "Thanks, Daddy..."

"It's true, Joss, an' you know it." Slim chuckled lightly as his daughter nodded, his tone became reminiscent. "I'm thirty-seven years old, Felix. Thing is, I was _your_ age when I met Stacy, Joss' momma... An' she was only a li'l past fifteen... Didn' look it, but she was..." Joss almost choked on air, and Felix did choke on the water he'd just taken a sip of. Slim grabbed a tissue from the dispenser on the rollaway cart next to the bed and handed it to Felix before continuing, "We were so deep in love we figured we'd be gettin' married before her senior prom..."

"Really?" Joss asked in surprise.

"Yep!" Slim smirked slightly, "An it turns out we were right... I mean, we were safe an' all, but shit happens, an' she'd missed a period by April. An' with how in love we were, an' with the way momma raised Jimmy an' I, I asked her daddy fer her hand, and we got married ..."

"Um, was..." Felix hesitantly prodded, "How did everyone take it?"

"It was a bit stressful from my side, since dad was kinda a traditionalist an' a hopeless romantic, he wanted us t'have a big ol' weddin'... But we went t'the Justice a'the Peace, with th' promise of a big weddin' after graduatin'... An' since ever'one knew we were serious it all worked out... I mean, me bein' twen'y-one an' Joss' momma bein' eighteen it could'a been a problem..." Slim smiled softly at the two teens in the room, "An' I won't lie... I worry 'bout my li'l girl gettin' hurt, but I'd be a pretty goddamn big hypocrite if I didn' give her the same freedom her momma's parents did, wouldn't I?"

"Yeah..." Felix and Joss said at the same time, before blushing and looking at everything else in the room except each other.

"I'm sorry, I really am, that I interrupted... But I was already on the way over t'see how ya were when I got the idea t'talk with Annie..." Slim said after a moment, "An' if you're not inter'sted in my girl like she is you, y'better let 'er know soon... But if y'are, like I said, I don' have any problems with you two gettin' t'gether..."

"Thanks, Daddy..." Joss said, walking around the foot of the bed to give her father a hug. Felix watched, not sure how to respond to Slim's declarations, but smiled at the sight.

"It's alright, Sweetpea..." he smirked as Joss made a sound of complaint at the nickname, and he let her go to kiss her forehead. He took a step back and turned briefly to Felix, "And Felix? I said I'm okay with ya datin' Joss... But if ya _ever_ hurt my li'l girl on purpose, you'll have someone worse than Jimmy t'deal with..."

"Um, right..." Felix gulped as Slim turned and walked towards the door, "No problems, Slim... I promise we'll get this sorted out and I promise I'll never hurt Joss, even if we never date..."

"Yer not gettin' away that easily, mister!" Joss grunted, placing her hands on her hips, "We're gonna talk this over, nice'n through, got it?"

"Um..." Felix drew out, looking at Slim for help.

"Don' look at me, boy!" Slim called teasingly from the door to the room, a knowing smile upon his face, "Oh, what I came in t'tell ya was t'keep it down... Th' nurses don' wanna have t'call security, after all!"

"Daddy!" Joss protested, having thought her father out of the room, "A _little_ bit've privacy, please an' thank ya?"

"G'night, Sweetpea, Felix..." he laughed, tipping an imaginary hat to his daughter and the young man he honestly hoped would soon be his daughter's boyfriend...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

The office was massive, easily the size of a thirty person boardroom, and over two stories tall. Two walls were dominated by five inches of automatically dimming, Lorwardian derived armored glass. The glass, and the dimming material, could withstand the force and radiation of a twenty one kiloton nuclear device. It could even, theoretically at least, stop an eight-point-three terajoule orbital kinetic spike drop.

The inside of the office was opulent, to say the least; sleek, modern office and entertainment equipment, Corinthian leather furniture, a fireplace, oak, cherry, mahogany and teak clashed in discordant, yet eye pleasing harmony with marble, granite and basalt that was polished perfectly. Upon the floor in strategic, eye soothing spots were fine Persian rugs, furs from exotic species, and even a clear section of floor above a beautiful koi pond. The most surprising was an original Monet painting that had been legally obtained by the office's owner in its own display case.

At the head of the office, above the door to the in-suite 'working' bedroom, was a huge monitor that wouldn't look out of place in a mad scientist's lair. In fact, it was a common purchase, considering that the monitor's owner loved meeting villains that had true potential in this very office. Of course, many of those villains would never set foot inside if they realised there was five megawatts of death rays, one hundred kiloamperes of plasma projectors and ten hypervelocity kinetic energy weapons pointed at them at all times. And that was just the lethal countermeasures...

"Gentlemen," Jack Hench cooed smoothly as he walked to his desk, "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

The two men sitting on the opposite side of Jack's desk were a study of opposites, to say the least. The shorter man was pot bellied, but otherwise quite scrawny. He had red hair peeking out of his tight cowl, a very - in Jack's opinion - French nose, huge ears sticking out almost obscenely from the side of his head and green eyes that were beady and calculating.

His costume was almost painful to look at, the signature 'M' atop his head being the most tolerable aspect to the whole thing. As Jack moved around behind his desk, the man reset his green facemask slightly, as if resettling glasses upon his face, and Jack hid a wince at the costume's color scheme again, _Green, gold and purple? Ugh..._

"With the sum total of discounts you were implying," the Mathter all but crowed, "Not to mention the monetary compensation you offered. It was only _rational_ that we would come to consider your proposal in an infinitesimal fraction of time!"

"Of course, Mathter..." Jack managed to reign in a wince at the Mathter's last comment; it hurt his educated sensibilities almost as much as a double negative! He also had to fight his annoyance at the man's over-the-top posing and horrid math-based puns, fervently hoping the man would indeed take up his offer for a free villainous costume makeover, and turned to his apparent partner, "And Mr..."

"Call me," the man said in voice that was, to Jack's surprise, smoother and more cultured than his own, "Professor Mindbender..."

"Professor." Jack inclined his head, admiring the man's style, even the old school, yet catchy, name. He wore a catsuit that was similar in design to that worn by the former villainess, Shego. It was a dark cobalt blue with barely noticeable, lavender accents along the cut musculature visible through the suit. While not as tight as the former villainess Shego's catsuit, it was form fitting, and showed off his slim but powerful body well.

His face was also obscured by a mask that had solid sections of plastic covering the face area. It obscured any expressions, and had built-in, smoke black, wide angled goggles; another touch Jack approved of! It added a touch of mystery of the wearer, and made it easier for the wearer to bluff a hero or competing villain. _So few villains rely on guile, mystery and a good bluff anymore..._ he lamented internally, _And those that used to have mostly quit the business!_

"So why did you calculate that our services would be the best solution to your problem?" the Mathter asked leadingly, and Jack hid a smirk as, for once, the man's math themed banter worked.

"Simply that you, Mathter, have skills in all fields of mathematics," Jack allowed the slightest of needling to enter his tone, so as to appear to be grudgingly admitting to that fact, "And you, Professor Mindbender, have shown yourself to be, frankly, a master at manipulating people."

"Thank you, Mr. Hench." the man replied with a slight incline of the head, "And what need of those skills have you?"

Jack smirked at the man's bluntness, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his desk, "I need two jobs done, and set in motion, by Tuesday, and finalized by Friday." Jack took a flask out of his coat and opened it, taking an indulgent sip of the eighty year old scotch within, and smiled grimly, "First, I need someone as a fall guy, an... Innocent dupe, one that can be cleared, but whose presence will confuse the authorities. But one with the skills to make a chemical agent that is generally harmless, but requires many ingredients for a much more dangerous agent. I also need to... Grease the wheels a bit with a few government contacts so some of my construction concerns get certain contracts... That, of course, is where you come in, Professor."

"I see..." Professor Mindbender's tone made it obvious he wore a smirk under his mask, "I have the perfect candidate. It will take, perhaps... Twelve hours to bend her to my will, but I will need effective and stealthy men to pull her from a rather public place... As well as a specially modified version of Professor Bortel's mind control chip. As for the... Contacts as you called them? Just make sure I'm part of the meeting, and it will be done."

"I can supply these men, of course, as well as the chip... At no cost to you." Jack smirked as he noticed the slightest raising of Professor Mindbender's chin, as if he caught the import of Jack's offer, "And if your manipulative abilities are as keen as has been implied to me, then you will more than earn your money."

Jack turned to the red-headed man, his smirk widening slightly, "As for you, Mathter, I need you to use those number crunching skills to quadruple check the predicted outcome for a plan of mine. A plan that three actuaries have already checked over, and said is eighty-three point seven-seven-five percent likely to succeed. I think it can be made better! So in addition, I want you to interject ideas that come from other members of my research staff into the plan, as well as any you or Professor Mindbender might think of."

"Consider the equation solved, Mr. Hench!" the Mathter declared in his bombastic fashion, "And... Is your costume makeover truly a zero sum total?" He glanced down at his uniform, wincing slightly, "The last time one of my crime equations was given a random factor, my fashion sense was harshly equated to a negative of gross proportions. By Kim Possible and Mego of Team Go, of all people! Two fractions of whom the entire villain community _knows_ have a true zero when it comes to a sense of fashion!"

Jack smiled in what appeared to be an honest manner... So long as you didn't look him in the eye. He felt rather glad that the Mathter had ended his rant by looking down at his toes, "Mathter, that offer is _completely_ free. In fact... I may be willing to offer you _compensation_... If you'd be willing to field test a few items for my company?"

The Mathter stroked his thumb and forefinger along his chin as he considered this, "The variable of field testing could, potentially, add in an unacceptable factor to the equation..." After a moment, in which the fingers of his free hand twitched as if on an abacus, and the hand on his chin stroked briefly harder, he nodded, albeit grudgingly, "How about _this_, Mr. Hench... Your modification of the overall function indicates the probability of a problem with the equipment. So long as the reciprocal is a function that, should any harm come to me or my associate due to this new equipment, you will compensate us appropriately, I will agree to this." The Mathter smirked slightly, "Either way, I will still take you up on the offer for a wardrobe makeover, as this outfit has become exponentially annoying over time."

"I'm sure a suitable compensation formula can be reached," Jack said with a shockingly straight face, "If you both agree, of course."

"I believe we have no problems with this, Mr. Hench." Professor Mindbender concluded with a glance to the Mathter.

The red-headed villain nodded in agreement, and both held out a hand, Jack shaking with each of them in turn, "I will have a contract worked up by eleven P.M." He stood and gestured towards his office doors, a huge smile upon his face, "Until then, may I interest you in a visit to HenchCo's VIP lounge? I have it stocked with the best, and the chef is amazing! As well, Professor, I'm wondering if you'd be able to speak with one of my governmental contacts? We're watching the Stanford versus Portland game, and have a respectable betting pool going..."

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Shego sighed happily as she opened the door to the suite, carefully balancing a bar service tray loaded with cold and microwavable snacks she'd grabbed from the _Klubhaus_ lounge. There was also four bottles of Florid-Aide sports drink, and she smirked as Rufus mirrored the sigh from her shoulder, following it with a gurgling from his gut. "How ya doin', Bud?" she asked as she closed the door.

"Munchies..." Rufus squeaked, holding his hands out towards the tray as if he were a zombie.

"I know, right? I'm glad they haven't hit _me_ yet!" Shego chuckled lightly as the mole rat pouted and blew her a raspberry. They both jumped like frightened rabbits, their heads snapping towards the couch, as two voices rose as if trying to wake the dead.

Ron and Kim were both on their feet, screaming and cajoling the action on the screen. Shego hurriedly closed the door, and stared at the apparent last play of the game. She winced as the man running the ball dodged around one of his teammates and got hammered hard enough to dislodge his helmet, his blond head barely missing a collision with another tackler's helmet.

"No way!" Kim cried in awe as he held his hands up, showing them empty, and the whistles blew the end of the play. The camera whipping over to the end zone, where two referees held their hands aloft in the sign of a touchdown, and the player the quarterback had almost collided with was being embraced by his teammates.

"That was smooth!" Ron laughed, hugging Kim as she kissed his cheek, "I hope Brick didn't take a hit to the head after his helmet went flying, though..."

"That was your old high school Q.B., huh?" Shego asked, making both Kim and Ron jump, and earning an affirmative squeak from Rufus, "He's good..."

"And there's the extra point..." Kim smiled brightly, "His first college game, and he brought them from behind by two touchdowns to winning by one!"

"Oh, hey..." Ron said as he looked at the tray in Shego's hands, "Snackage!"

"Woah, there, Doofus!" Shego smirked, "Most of this is for Rufus and I..." Ron tried to give her a puppy dog pout but ended up looking more goofy than pathetic, which drew a laugh from his three friends, "Okay, maybe a couple for you and Kimmie..." She walked over, and then glanced at the tray, remembering the aspirin and the sports drinks, "Oh, yeah, hangover preventatives for all of us, too!"

"Cool." Ron nodded, snagging a bottle and aspirin packet for himself and Kim, then sat back down on the middle cushion of the couch, the red-head flopping down on him almost bonelessly, "Thanks, Sheegs."

"No problem, Ronnie..." Shego replied easily, grabbing two bread wrapped mini-bratwurst from the table and holding them in her mouth, "Nind ith I thit 'ere?"

"Go for it!" Kim chirped with a giggle at the sight, settling herself comfortably against Ron and opening the aspirin and chasing it with the sports drink, "Thanks, and welcome back..."

"Mnop a pwodwem, Ptwintesth, an' sanks." Shego nodded as she set the tray on the coffee table. On the screen, some of the players were milling about on the sidelines, some were on the field, and others had headed for the lockers.

The camera seemed to be searching, and then zeroed in on Brick as the commentators lauded the quarterback and his skills. The big blond had jumped up to grab a low railing and pulled himself up, giving a fairly plain-looking blonde woman a deep kiss.

"Oh, wow!" Kim exclaimed, pointing at the screen, "Is that Justine?" The blonde woman had pulled back, and indeed, it was Justine Flanner, blushing brightly but giving Brick a smile Kim had never expected from the dour, serious-minded girl. She was dressed in a conservative, but surprisingly stylish and, if one liked skirted power suit chic, sexy dress that matched her fair skin tone and blonde hair perfectly, "He wasn't the brightest, but he's _so_ a closet romantic..."

"Wow, Justine learned how to dress up... She looks cute like that, I wonder ho-..." Ron started, then started guffawing like an asthmatic diesel engine, "Check out who went to the game with her!"

"Is that..." Kim started, her mouth dropping open after a moment before she giggled madly, "Oh, my God that's Monique next to her!"

"I remember her..." Shego laughed, "She was a trip..."

"Mo's awesomely badical." Ron said in firm agreement, then let loose a jaw cracking yawn, "Speaking of badical, I could use a badical night's sleep..."

"All of us can, I think..." Shego agreed, pointing at Rufus who snoozed comfortably in the middle of the empty bar tray, and then Kim, who, after her excitement, looked about to fall asleep where she sat, "You wanna grab Rufus and Kimmie? I'll get this stuff..."

"You sure?" Ron asked as he collected Rufus, "I can help."

"You guys're givin' me a nice suite to stay in, right next to the 'Fest grounds, Ronnie..." Shego smiled brightly at him, "It's the least I could do..."

"If you're sure?" Ron prodded, just to make sure, then nodded when Shego made shooing motions towards their bedroom, "Okay, okay..."

"Good night, Ronnie, Kimmie..." the pale woman said softly.

"G'night, Shego..." Kim and Ron said at the same time, Kim elbowing him and saying, "Jinx, you owe me a beer..."

"Y'see that?" Ron protested in mock seriousness, "It's abuse, I tells ya!"

"And I'm sure you're more than happy for it..." Shego concluded, hearing a laugh from Kim and Ron as they walked into their bedroom, closing the door to change into night clothes. "Thank you, you two..." Shego murmured to the door when she heard music playing from inside. She wore a wistfully soft, yet considering smile on her features as she continued, "Thank you for trusting me enough... For letting _me_ trust _you_ enough, for today, and especially tonight..."

She finished gathering the small plates the snacks had come in and made her way to the suite's door, intent on taking the tray back to the _Klubhaus_. Looking back at Kim and Ron's room, she let a few cleansing tears slip from her eyes, the emotions connected to them not quite happy, but far, far from sad. Swallowing, she whispered, "Thanks for being my friends..."

With that simple declaration, she opened the door, feeling better than she had in years...

**Author's Notes**

And yet another chapter up! This time, I felt it best to start out with Betty, right after she was pulled from the trap she was in. She seems to quite handily understand procedures and in fact seemed to anticipate them. But then, she got to her apartment, and... Wait, _what_? I guess you'll have to read on to find out... ^_^;;

Then there's the scene with Rufus and Shego. Yes, it seems a bit of a stretch, but at the same time, in my opinion as far as this story's version of Shego, it fits. And as for Rufus, well... He sleeps... A lot... He eats... Even more... And he's way, way, _way_ too chill for his own good at times. And then there's his plan... Whatever could it be? It's obviously not too dastardly... Right?

As for Felix and Joss... Well, both sides of that particular coin are easy to understand and appreciate. And, while painful, the confrontation was bound to happen, and it's better that it's out in the open now... With the timely intervention of one Slim Possible! How far will it go? Who knows...

And then there's the ending. Comfortable chat, a good ending to a game of football, and an, as yet, private admission to Kim and Ron. I hope it was as touching as I was trying to portray!

As always, great thanks go to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work, and remember, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember to review the fics ya like!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Forward**

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations.

ShadowCub: I can't be that open about your question without spoilers, but if you'd like, PM me and I can give you some hints (this does apply to everyone, but be aware, I won't come right out and say 'yes' or 'no', due to the nature of what I'm going for in-fic...).

Snorbie: glad to hear you're liking it! Keep on reading, it's gonna be a trip...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"_Hey, Vivi, did I tell you yesterday?"_

The words were excited and high pitched, seeming to run into one single word instead of a coherent sentence. An uncommon scene from the young woman in question, but more so for her on a Tuesday morning after a big test.

"_Tell me what, Shay-Shay? That Harly's gonna be back on Friday?"_

The dry tone, and almost complete and utter lack of shock was all the first speaker had needed to know that the secret had been spilled. Most likely by the very person she'd been referring to.

"_Not_ fair! _I asked him not to say anything to you!"_

The pout had been one of epic proportions, only ruined by the excited bouncing from foot to foot.

"_Well, I_ did _bribe him with some inside information..."_

Again, the dry tone, but with a strong hint of devilishness and a staggering amount of love... But not of the kind that they had shared even as recently as two months earlier. They both loved each other, as friends, and while they still shared each other's beds and physical love, the romance had drifted. They both knew it, and despite it all, couldn't have been happier.

"_What'd you tell him? Oh, don't give me that smug, 'I'm not telling!' look, tell me!"_

She'd even gone so far as to allow a brief pulse of plasma to burn at her fingertips. All for naught, of course.

"_Just trust me, baby... You're gonna_ love _it!"_

"_Oh, that's _so_ not fair, Vivi! C'mon,_ please_? Pretty please with my cherry on top?"_

A delighted, almost perverted laugh was the answer, followed by a comment that had left the honeydew skinned woman blushing from the crown of her hair to her navel.

"_Sparky, I'd tell all... If not for the fact that Harley had it first, and I've tasted it _plenty_ of times since! But I'd be _more_ than happy to taste it again, if you don't mind..."_

A giggle, followed by the blush intensifying but not creeping further along her taught body. Nonetheless, the superheroine leaned in to give her blonde lover a passionate, brief kiss.

"_You're insatiable, Vivi!"_

The two women leaned back towards each other, and then there was a jumble of disjointed, nonsensical information, a multi-sensory assault that also included all five senses, even those beyond, such as balance and that strange, not quite headache, not quite relaxing massage that was her power. Her power... That realization congealed the images into brief, scintillating cognisance...

Greg literally tossing the car off of mom's body... And begging to whatever power that would listen for the ambulances to get there in time...

Wally _shrinking_ to get to nana, thankfully finding both nana and daddy alive because her hope chest had stopped the roof from caving in completely...

Her digging and and tearing at still burning wood, screaming her littlest brother's names, her hands bursting into flame as she tore at the remains of the tree-house, finally finding Johnny and Justin... Many of each, all working together, giving rise to more strength than any pair of normal seven year olds could possibly possess to hold up what was left of the tree. All in hopes of keeping it off of the fire hydrant; even that young, they knew that keeping the hydrant intact would help the fire department to put out the house and save other people's houses...

Blasting the remnants of the trunk and watching with fascination as her little copies of her little brothers popped like soap bubbles, before the two originals fell to the ground, spent, but happy that they'd been able to help their big sis...

More jumbled information, then another solid image. She'd just taken a second bite of her dessert, while staring almost jealously at the partially eaten portion of tapioca pudding on a boy's tray across the cafeteria table from her. And she loved tapioca! She'd almost jumped from her skin when that very boy spoke to her.

"_Your name's Shay Gottlieb, right?"_

She'd nodded, staring at the boy with a mix of shock and worry. She was the new girl, didn't he know he'd have problems associating with her before she marked her place in the school?

"_Yeah..."_

Her tone had been dejected, but he'd merely smiled, his teeth almost blindingly white in relief against his deeply tanned skin and the soft pink of his lips. His long, fine black hair had been pulled back into a simple braid, his proud, slightly hooked nose goofy and appealing at once, and his soft brown eyes accepting without a second thought.

She was not used to still being in grade school at age eleven. Her old school district had middle school for fifth and sixth graders, and junior high for seventh through ninth grades. Yet those districts in Go City proper followed a theory that had seventh and eighth graders in junior high, and ninth grade on in high school.

But she'd been truly thrown off by Go City Heights Elementary School. Not only was she completely friendless outside of her older brother, who was just young enough to be in the same grade, but it was just after summer break. Worse, _this_ school went back earlier than her old one, so their vacation had been cut short.

And, much to her mortification, her old school had only offered one lunch per day, and she'd only found out about a week earlier. She was a smart girl, but she felt so _stupid_ for missing something so obvious! Now she was offered the luxury of a choice, and she was still getting used to the idea...

But she'd forgotten about it until she'd sat down, and while the chili, crackers, corn and apple crisp as her lunch were good, the boy's burrito, salsa refried beans and tapioca had made her salivate. Then the boy had spoken again, a huge smile on his face, and held out his hand.

"_Hi, I'm Harlan Little Coyote, but my pops calls me Harley. I'm half Blackfoot, half Irish! My dad and mom are in the Army and we moved here last winter."_

She couldn't help but return the handshake with a matching, brilliant smile, despite her worry about the new school after the move. He was... Kinda cute, but also kinda goofy looking. She figured that'd change, though...

After all, she'd once told her mother she hated how her face was put together, and asked if she could get it fixed before she grew up. Her mother had laughed, and reminded her that she knew people grew into their faces, and that she was a very pretty girl. She knew, she wasn't sure how, but she absolutely knew that was the case with Harlan, and that he'd grow into his features, and that kinda cute would give way to completely cute some day.

Still, she had to admit, cute is all he would be, face wise. His nose, the skin that still held its summer tan, cheekbones and almost piercingly black hair were obviously part of his Blackfoot heritage. The cute freckles barely visible on his cheeks, the shape of his eyes, and his jaw were obviously part of his Irish heritage. She felt her face trying to blush, and fought it as best she could as she as she found a point of connection with the cute boy.

"_Cool, my mommy used to be in the Army!"_

Her mother had been in the army, but she had retired when Greg had been born. She'd been an officer, and had a promising career, but was given the option to retire early for her family's sake. She'd taken it, and never looked back, using her experience in the field to help the company that hired her get military contracts.

"_That's way cool! Um..."_

He blushed, the coloring barely visible through his tan. It was also obvious he wasn't sure how to say what he wanted to say. And the blush was cute! Shay liked him, and not just 'cause he was cute, either. He'd taken a chance to talk to the pretty, but closed off girl 'from the boonies', and she knew he'd be her best friend in the whole world, if not the _universe_, by the end of the day!

"_You okay, Harla-... Erm, Harley?"_

That's when a girl came over and sat down next to him, throwing an arm around him and giving him a noogie. She was really pretty, at least to Shay's mind; she had boyishly short, blonde hair and bright, sparkly blue eyes, with a face that said she'd only get prettier as she got older. She was also winking at her!

"_Yeah, he always gets like this when he meets a pretty girl the first time, right Wile E?"_

"_Ye-... Hey!"_

"_Wile E? Like the cartoon?"_

"_Yeah! His last name's Little Coyote, but he's a lot smarter than the cartoon one, but he's always trying to do crazy stuff! And he's awesome at video games! He has that new Sega game system, the Genesis! It's _so_ cool, and..."_

Shay giggled as Harley blushed again, and his blonde friend extolled the virtues of his video games and how cool of a guy he was, and felt a blush of her own rising across her face. She wasn't sure why, but it had something to do with how pretty the girl was, and that the girl had called her pretty.

She shook her head, fighting another blush and began to pay attention again. She knew the blonde was laying it on pretty thick, but she didn't mind. After all, she was getting to know a lot about Harley, and she thought that she might want to know more... Then the other girl held out a hand, smiling so winningly that Shay didn't care about her own blush. She took the girl's hand in her own and shook it.

"_I'm Vivian Francis Porter. My middle name is my great-great-grandma's. She worked on airships in the first years of the century!"_

"_That's a long time ago. Wow..."_

Shay was honestly impressed. She knew her own great-grand... Or was it great-great-grandmother? Great-something-or-another-grandmother, whatever... Had worked for a man that flew an airship in that time period, and she wondered idly if their great-grandmothers had known each other.

"_Oh, um... What were you saying, Harley? I'm so sorry..."_

She hated doing that. Ignoring someone else, even by accident. She felt mortified, but luckily, the fear had been unfounded, as Harley had needed the time to compose himself.

"_It's okay, Shay. Um... I didn't see that apple crisp was with the chili, um... Wanna trade or share?"_

Shay's smile brightened as he shyly slid his plate forward, and she mimicked the action. They each reached out with a spoon and ate some of the other's dessert, neither caring that they'd both eaten from their food already.

Flashing, jumbled memories, of Vivian trying out for the wrestling team, of Harley crashing his mountain bike and jumping up as if nothing had happened despite the cuts on his face and hands. A month later, she was bouncing about at the bus stop, chatting animatedly with Vivian, who she had found out lived literally two houses down from her own.

"_Oh, Vivi, did I tell you yesterday?"_

The words were excited and high pitched, seeming to run into one single word instead of a coherent sentence. Not an uncommon scene for the young, excitable girl.

"_What, Shay-Shay, that Harley's gonna be coming to your birthday party after all?"_

Vivian's answer was almost smug, but held a teasing edge that took any sting out of her attitude.

"_How did you know that? I asked him not to tell you!"_

Shay's pout almost broke Vivian's resolve to tease her friend mercilessly with the secret until her birthday. But only almost...

"_Oh, I might have told him I knew something that convinced him to tell me..."_

Vivian reached out and placed a conspiratorial arm around Shay's shoulder, but didn't say anything more.

"_What'd you tell him? Oh, c'mon, please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"_

It was Shay's most potent beg; the almost whine, the pathetic, wide eyed, begging stare and the words combined to be more potent than a kicked puppy pout. This worked out well, since she refused to _ever_ stoop to the level of pouting like a kicked puppy! Though, she came very close to breaking that vow whenever someone had a secret pertaining to her!

"_Sorry, but I'm not tellin'! Not even for your cherry!"_

The smirk on Vivian's face was enough to tell Shay that she's lost the battle, but she kept trying until the bus arrived five minutes later. They wouldn't understand the unintentional irony of Vivian's comment until they were almost out of high school...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"So, as you can see," Gene Stoppable said with a chuckle, "It all came down to one decimal point being out of place back..." he scrolled up through the entire, one hundred pages of complex mathematical formula, explanations, esoteric and observed data "Here."

The formula seemed almost needlessly complex. However, it was one that combined theoretical physics, practical mechanics, and the physical engineering requirements in one. While he didn't understand the practical aspects, he understood the math in and of itself. Not that he understood what, exactly, the mathematics were explaining, but the error had been a simple one, and easy to find. For him, anyway.

_It's a wonder Ronald did so poorly in math..._ the man watching Gene thought to himself, _But then... There's no one I'd rather have watching my little Kimmie-cub's back!_ He felt a flash of guilt at his mental declaration. A couple months ago, for some reason, that hadn't been the case. He had still been trying to figure it out three days before, when he'd been called by, of all people, Bob Chen.

He and Drew had asked James for his advice. James had offered to double check, and had spoken to Gene and asked him to triple check, the mathematics. Drew and Bob had been among the half of the scientists that had been certain that the final formula was flawed. Among those against the idea was Ramesh Singh, another of their old college buddies.

James still had trouble believing that several of the scientists around him had been reduced to the point of screaming like five year olds about who was 'it' in a game of tag. Amazingly, Bob and Drew had been calm, a nice change of pace from the past. He chuckled as he realized it was a regular thing for the four of them, and that they'd argued like this, literally, for years. Even when they'd intentionally started debates with straw man arguments and circular logic, back when they called themselves the MISTcreants; they'd never drawn in quite such an evenly distributed group on either side of an argument, however.

James smirked as Gene bowed in a somewhat ironic fashion, accepting the accolades of scientists. Those same scientists then restarted the formula's run through the computers. There were only four more powerful computer setups in the world; in a way, the Go City University Theoretical and Practical Advanced Laboratory of Engineering was lucky. Unlike the Space Center back home, they didn't have to ask Wade for run time on his home brew setup, which was now housed in a former lair belonging to PLL, LLC, or with the University of Tokyo's setup. And, of course, Global Justice's statistical analysis systems were right out, for obvious reasons!

But the lab's computers would still take a couple hours to crunch the numbers for the gravity lens project, despite its sheer computing power. Nonetheless, James felt certain that the formula would follow closer to Drew, Bob and their colleagues' projections than Ramesh and his colleagues' projections.

This left his mind to wander back to his worries from earlier, to the time in late June to mid July when he'd been bouncing between Go City and Middleton on a weekly basis. He'd been trying to help figure out what was wrong with the various mathematical formulae, because if it worked, the gravity lens was to be installed in the newest generation space telescope being planned at the Space center. The first meeting had been the worst, though. Tensions had been high, and he'd hoped to have a relaxing evening with his daughter and her fiancé.

Yet he'd seen something... Something that turned out to be almost completely innocent! And he'd... _Why did I react that way to Kimmie-cub and Ronald?_ he almost growled aloud, and he did start to drum his fingers firmly against the desk he sat at, _I _knew_ they'd become involved! I never had a problem with it, even the idea of it, before they were engaged... And after? I mean, I was off work early, and almost interrupted them after the house was rebuilt! Why did I do that when I di-_…

"What's wrong, James?" Drew asked quietly, hiding his slightly grinning mouth behind a Styrofoam cup of coffee lest the expression be misunderstood. James glanced up at the man that had gone from friend, to mad scientist and essentially enemy, to even closer friend, and followed his arm down to the hand holding another cup of coffee out to him.

James took the coffee, sipping the scalding beverage and smiling slightly at the hint of sugar and lemon in it. How Drew remembered he liked his coffee like many liked their tea, he wouldn't know. After all, the man had a tendency to be as scatter brained as he did! After a brief smile, James sighed dejectedly, his face falling as he set the coffee down. "It's... Complicated."

"James..." Drew smiled his over the top smile, shaking his head at his friend, "If that's the case, how about we discuss it on the way to the cafeteria? I've heard Ronald gave his seal of approval to the place..."

"How can I argue with that?" James smiled half-heartedly, falling into step beside Drew. He cast a glance back into the room and saw Bob and Ramesh shaking hands, a look of consternation, reinforced by a slight blush, on the Indian man's face.

"So, what's the problem, Jim?" Drew asked, startling James with the name Drew hadn't used since they'd been in high school.

James boggled for a moment and jogged briefly to catch up, before sighing and saying, "I don't know what I was thinking, or why, but I screwed up in July, Drew..."

His reestablished friend gave him a knowing look as they walked down the hall to where the nearby cafeteria was. "I'd wondered what'd happened back then..."

James squawked in surprise and a mild sense of shame. Before he could prattle his hurried explanation, sure that Drew knew what had happened between himself and Kimmie-cub, Drew waved his hands in a calming gesture.

"I don't actually know what happened. All I know is that something big and terrible happened between you and Kimberly," the blue man assured him as they entered the previously prepared dining area.

James gave his friend a look of curiosity before turning his attention to what the building's staff and visitors called a cafeteria. It wasn't particularly large, nor was it exactly cozy. At perhaps seventy feet by forty feet, it was comfortable, James concluded. It had a mix of tables, mostly those that could sit four, but some that could sit six or eight, all with comfortable, swiveling and reclining office chairs. The floor an off white that reminded him of snow, the walls were a soft, pale turquoise that blended into a surprisingly sky blue ceiling. _Must want to remind the shut ins what color the sky is._

He chuckled under his breath at his joke and nodded appreciatively at the paintings on the wall. They ranged from abstract, computer generated art such as fractals, to pre-production renderings of the Boeing 787 and as well as a skin laminar flow analysis of the Kepler III. James remembered seeing that very image coming onto a screen at the space center and grunted in surprise. Shaking the surprise off, he looked towards the serving line, which was an open buffet. That was when the smells finally registered in his brain. If nothing else, the smell indicated it was probably going to be quite a treat.

"Um..." James stammered as they walked up to the buffet counter, flashing their guest badges which entitled them to a free meal, finally gritting out, "How, exactly, did you know that, Drew?"

"You forget, Jim!" Drew chuckled, his smirk back in place, "I was working with Kimberly on her new mission clothes..."

"Ah..." James said, slapping a hand to his forehead, "That explains that..."

"What happened?" Drew asked into the growing silence between them.

James grumbled something under his breath as he plopped down upon the comfortable chair, staring at the delicious looking barbecue ribs, mashed potatoes and peas. He twiddled the fork in his hand as if he were a drummer showing off, then leveled a plaintive gaze at Drew, "You remember that first meeting where you guys had invited me to help solve the grav wave problem for the lenses?" Drew nodded, "Well, Kimmie-cub pulled a couple back muscles on a mission, and I'd gone over to see if they wanted to go have a family night out, and Ron was using some massage techniques to loosen them up..."

"And you went flying off the handle worse than your mother did when she found out about you and Annie?" Drew had a fondly reminiscent smile on his face, but sobered when James nodded sullenly, "You didn't make any threats, did you?"

"I haven't _seriously_ done that with Ronald since those mood chips you stole when you were evil, Drew..." James half snapped, before sighing lightly, "Sorry... Anyway, I knew they were intimate, and ever since I first realized that Kimmie-cub truly loved Ron?" Drew nodded in understanding at James leading question, "Since then, I've been fine with the idea of them _being_ intimate... I even made sure Annie had our daughters birth control prescriptions as up to date as possible..." James speared a large, loose chunk of rib meat from his plate and chewed it like a Rottweiler would a chew toy, swallowing half of it before speaking around the rest, "That night? I lost it."

"You..." Drew stared at James in shock.

"I know, Drew, I know!" James held up his hands in surrender, "The worst is that Kimmie-cub has barely said thirty words to me since." He glanced at Drew as the blue skinned man opened his mouth, and shook his head, "That's not an exaggeration..."

"Well..." Drew said with a drawn out exhale of breath, "You're saying that you were... Out of sorts? Like..." the blue scientist sought the right words, then snapped his fingers in success as one of James earlier comments set off a lightbulb in his mind, "Were you like Kimberly was when she had the Moodulator chip attached to her?"

"I..." James paused and thought on it for a while. He knew he hadn't had anything on him... Or so he thought. Perhaps inside him? It bore investigation, but he hadn't the slightest thought were to start, outside of his wife, "It's plausable... But I'll have to wait until I get back to Middleton to have Annie chec-…"

"Ah, ah, James..." Drew interrupted him, "I have a better idea. I have PLL's latest hovercraft design out in the parking lot... It's Mach seven capable, and we have at least four hours before we have any results! How about I give you a lift back, and we can have _Annie_ come to the company research lab so she and Wade can work on the problem together? After that, they can discuss the findings, if any, and if there's _none_, I can try a few other scans for possible external sources..."

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

It was barely ten minutes past seven in the morning, and about fifteen minutes after Shego had woken up. The dream wasn't an uncommon one, but it was the first time she could remember waking from it without tears in her eyes and sweat making her sheets cling to her body. She took a moment for a startlingly calm bit of contemplation about why, before shaking it off and opening her eyes. Squinting and blinking into the somewhat dim morning light, she muttered a laughing curse at the windows, "I could've sworn I closed the blinds! Ah, well..."

She looked up into the heavily clouded sky, sighing as she saw it was still raining. It had been raining in steady, on and off spurts since early Monday morning, not long after they'd closed Oktoberfest for the night. Normally that would have completely dampened her mood, as she enjoyed all aspects of the festival. That included rides, which would be closed down during particularly heavy rain... For safety reasons, of course. It was startling to find out that while Kim enjoyed those aspects of the 'Fest as well, Ron shared Shego's almost childlike glee, and the two of them had almost acted the complete fools in what would seem like a huge state fair back home. With beer. And delicious food. And beer. And carnival rides. And _beer_!

Shego found herself laughing like an idiot at the very argument she and Ron had used on Kim the day before. The red-head had wanted to sit in a tent instead of ride the rollercoaster when the rain had slowed to a light drizzle. They'd finally convinced her to join them, and while they'd enjoyed it, everyone on the ride had ended up soaked. For once, however, she didn't have any problems with the weather, or having a woman along that would sometimes play the spoil-sport. Or with waking up at such an early time, for that matter!

Then again, it was a rare day that she woke up _this_ early on her own, even at the Oktoberfest. It'd been years since she had, since Harley had been alive... But it didn't matter. She was finally, despite her fears of reliving the past, dealing with both those events and the pain they brought to her... Which would explain the even rarer sight of a happy smile upon her face in the early morning. She was actually pumped for the day, and she had no reason other than the fact that she was at Oktoberfest, sharing a two bedroom suite with three amazing people.

One _was_ a naked mole rat with disgustingly high intellectual capabilities, that also shared a similar medical prescription - and admitted enjoyment - that she did. But, to her, he was definitely a person. The other two were his best friends, his human and his human's lady, as he called them. Two loving, forgiving people that had taken her into their trust, and had allowed her to trust them in return. Two people and one animal, that were well on their way to being her best friends.

She honestly couldn't understand why she'd avoided them after the whole Lorwardian Invasion sitch...utaion... _Oh, _God_, not only do I sound sappy, I'm starting to use their silly ass catch phrases!_

She giggled softly to herself as she stretched, muscles bunching and relaxing under her nude flesh in a beautiful display. A display she knew had short circuited men and women's minds in the past. _I wonder... Should I?_ She pondered, quite seriously, whether she should just do what she normally would among truly close friends, and stroll casually to the shower carrying her clothing... And wearing none.

She quickly dismissed the idea. Not that it was unappealing, far from it! She just didn't want to put undue pressure on a friendship that was so close to congealing into... Something. What, she wasn't entirely sure, but she was determined to find out, and hopefully soon! Especially if...

She shook the thought off and walked over to the in-room entertainment system and activated its Bluetooth connectivity, pairing her music player to the unit. She chuckled as she realized there was the standard auxiliary three-point-five millimeter audio jack and a multi-end USB cable, as well. _Huh... I've been in some really high class hotels without this kind of thoughtfulness..._

She pressed the button to select her room for the music distribution, but was still rubbing sleep from her eye and didn't realize she'd hit the button for the main room as well. She cranked the volume to a moderately high level - a level she knew from the last few days shouldn't wake Kim and Ron - and began surf through her playlist as she gathered up yesterday's bikini briefs and their matching sports bra. _Old school?_ she pondered as she set her player down to slide into her panties and bra from the prior day, pursing her lips in thought before nodding to herself, _Yeah, definitely an old school morning!_

She finished her scrolling at Sacred Riech's cover of "Who Do You Want to be Today" and hit play. Setting her player down on top of her nightstand, she began rummaging through her luggage for an appropriate outfit. A crunchy, detuned guitar riff with slow drum work backing it blared from the room's speakers, and she began to nod her head to the beat, just shy of head banging. _Let's see... Black hip huggers and the low boots... Violet bra..._

She smiled at her choice, a sleek, modern looking bra that had a nice bit of support, and looked cute on her. _What else do I have to go with this one? This thong, or the boyshorts?_ She pondered for a moment. She wasn't feeling too dressy, but she needed something that'd go well with the hip huggers, but didn't want to be too showy, either... _Boyshorts, definitely. And no silk or cashmere 'cause of the rain, but that leather jacket would be perfect... What for a shirt?_

She rifled through her other bag and let out a loud, "Ah, hah!" of victory and pulled out a nicely form fitting, tightly knit, cobalt blue sweater. She gathered up her things, as well as some of her own shampoo and conditioner for the shower, and turned towards the door.

Only to flinch as a loud banging and an even louder "_Shego_!" stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Um, it's open, Kimmie?" Shego half yelled, what normally would have been a comment coming out as a confused question because, frankly, the music shouldn't have woken Kim! At least, to the pale woman's knowledge, it shouldn't have.

That was until a flush faced Kim, dressed in a pair of Ron's boxers and a sports bra similar to her own opened the door and music rolled over her from the main room of the suite. Shego blinked once, then twice, before chuckling. "I'll have you know that you woke us up!" Kim groused, then began to pout as Shego's chuckle became a full on belly laugh.

Kim opened her mouth, stuck between wanting to whine and tear into Shego, finally managing a disgruntled sounding, "I was having a really nice dream, too!"

"S-sorry, Princess..." Shego finally choked out, walking over to the stereo and turning it down, and deactivating the main room feed, "I didn't know I was sending that into the main room..."

Kim looked at Shego's amused yet contrite expression, and sighed despite her annoyance. She turned and walked into the main room, Shego following behind with her shower supplies in hand, "Well... The music wasn't too bad, I guess, bu-..."

"If I'd have wanted to wake you that way," Shego said with a manifestly false expression of innocence, "I'd have pumped it into your room with some metal... Y'know, Angra maybe some Gojira or Pantera..." The older woman smirked then, "Or if I was in a mood, maybe some country blues..."

"Um..." Kim stared at her, blinking, "What's an old car or a Japanese movie monster got to do with 'heavy met-'..."

"Kimmie, you and your pop music have left you _so_ deprived..." Shego chuckled, interrupting the red-head's impending, air quotes filled rant, and ignoring the younger woman's indignant huff, "Angra is a Brazilian symphonic power metal band, Pantera's thrash and groove metal and Gojira's a French extreme metal group..."

"Ugh..." Kim grimaced, "Okay, I admit some metal's alright, like that stuff you were playing, but... The extreme stuff's not my thing."

"I figured you'd say something like that..." Shego chuckled. A thoughtful look came over her face, and then she spoke as if pondering aloud, "I think you'd like some of my preferred music, but I'll lure you in with some Angra..." She set her clothing on the end of the couch and walked over to the entertainment center, dropping the volume of the main unit and fiddling with her music player, "Here, take a listen..."

"Fine..." Kim sighed, and was relieved that the volume was indeed a lot lower than it had been as the music started. Knowing from Shego's comments that it was a metal group, she figured she wouldn't be too enthused with the selection. What she hadn't expected was to hear strings accompanying the opening section of heavy guitars and brief, almost stabbing beats from drums. She was even more shocked when the strings section ended and a fast, double bass drum beat and loping snare hits, with a clear, clean guitar lead backed by a subtle bass guitar riff took over from the strings.

Thirty seconds in, Kim had a slight smile upon her face, finding the music to be of good quality, if not entirely meshing with her recently expanded musical tastes. She almost laughed when she spied Shego nodding her head and tapping back and forth along the front and side of her hip with her pinkie finger and thumb, each tap in perfect synchronization with the beat.

Shego was humming in time with the vocalist, and had her eyes closed as she listened. She opened her eyes as if sensing someone, glancing over Kim's shoulder. Kim followed her gaze to see Ron walking out of their bedroom, seemingly nonplussed to have two beautiful women mostly nude in the same hotel room as him. He was nodding in time with the beat as he put his arms around Kim, and Shego reached back to turn down the music as he held up a hand to signal for it, "Not bad, Shego..."

"'Not bad', Doofus?" Shego scoffed.

"I agree with Ron, since I still prefer my music..." Kim smirked, "But it's actually pretty good." She then leaned back to whisper into Ron's ear. Ron snickered and shook his head and whispered something back. Kim blushed slightly, and whispered again, earning an annoyed looking raised eyebrow from Shego as Ron walked back to their room, "Ronnie's gonna set up one of my favorite songs..." She glanced meaningfully at Shego's clothing, "And while he's deciding, I'm going to use the bathroom before you start your shower."

"Awww!" Shego pouted with mock hurt, "Don't want to see naked li'l me in the shower?"

"One," Kim said with a disturbingly innocent, air-headed expression, and a saccharine sweet voice, "I've seen it all before in the showers! I was a cheerleader, after all!"

"Okay..." Shego couldn't help but laugh, "And two?"

"Two?" Kim said with that same tone, adding a vacuous titter, before becoming dead serious, "After that thing with Ron being in my body and helping him apply a tampon? I _don't_ change feminine hygiene products in front of _anyone_!"

"Wha-..." Shego blinked as an expression that mixed disgust and amusement crossed her features and Kim disappeared into the bathroom. After shaking her head, Shego called to the closed bathroom door, "Touché, Kimmie... Gross, but well played!"

"She actually managed to make Alex queasy in a similar sitch last month..." Ron chuckled as he walked out of the room, holding Kim's wrist Kimmunicator, "Which is weird, 'cause she's studying forensics and has some advanced textbooks!" Ron shuddered, completing his thought more effectively than words ever could.

"Well, Sport," Shego chuckled as she turned back towards him, "Some people find the thought of a living woman regularly passing blood, blood clot-phts-..."

Ron had her lips held in between his thumb and forefinger, his face pale and slightly green as he continued in a thick voice, "Don't... Please don't finish that, Sheegs, please?" He emphasized his request by letting go of her lips and sitting down on the couch as if his knees had given out, making Shego snigger at his antics.

She winked at him, making him feel like he'd stepped into some diabolical trap, "Don't worry, _Ronnie_," she emphasized the name as she had been the last couple days in their verbal tête-à-têtes, "I'll let ya off the hook..." Ron drew a breath to sigh in relief, and just as he was about to let it out, Shego continued with an evil smirk, "But you're buying breakfast!"

Ron let the air out in an explosive grunt, as if he'd just been punched in the gut. He stared at her open mouthed for a moment, before gobbling out, "That's, that's... But, I mean, um... What about the _Klubhaus_ roo-..."

"Because we're on vacation, Ron!" Kim said as she emerged from the bathroom, having heard the last bit of the exchange, "And I'm sure Shego's as in a mood for something sweet and ferociously unhealthy for breakfast as I am!" Shego nodded and Kim gave Ron a smirk to rival Shego's, "Besides, she bought breakfast yesterday when the rain closed down most of the rides..." Seeing that Ron was somewhat unconvinced, Kim dropped the smirk and allowed an almost pouting, innocent expression onto her face, her tone full of matching, faux sweetness, "Unless you'd like one of us to continue about mestru-…"

"Breakfast it is!" Ron held up his hands in defeat, his words flowing together as if one word. He then changed the subject with the subtlety of an active grenade in an explosives plant, "Your song's ready whenever you are, KP!"

"Thanks, Ron." Kim smiled, leaning down to kiss him and grab her Kimmunicator, "This is my favorite song by this band, 'cause it was the first song Tara played to get me into the genre..."

"Tara convinced you to switch from boy bands and air headed, no talent bimbos?" Shego snerked, and Kim rolled her eyes.

"I was only into Oh Boyz for, like... Two months?" Kim exaggerated slightly, "Ron's their fanboy..."

"Hey!" Ron protested as Shego gave him a look that screamed at near future teasing, "I got over them!" He moved away from the couch, standing to Shego's left.

"I know, sweetie..." Kim cooed at Ron, drawing a huff from Ron and a laugh from Shego and a bleary eyed Rufus, who had finally dragged himself from Kim and Ron's room, "Hey, Rufus!" Rufus squeaked a greeting at them before walking over to the coffee maker like a zombie, complete with squeaking moans.

"Oh, how's this for breakfast..." Ron asked as he stood and walked over to pick Rufus up and place him next to the device, "Falsetto told me about this place on the _Marienplatz_ called Café Rischart..." Ron looked between Shego and Kim as he walked back to the red-head.

"I've been there before," Shego nodded as if to herself, "Good call, Doofus..."

"Hey..." Kim said, the protest now a joke between the three of them. She emphasized he protest by sticking her tongue out and blowing a raspberry at Shego. Before the pale woman could give her normal rejoinder to the action, the red-head leaned back against Ron, turning her head to give him a brief kiss.

Ron smiled at her and put his arms around her. Kim sighed happily and continued her earlier thought, "Anyway, Britina's not that much of a ditz..." Kim leveled a challenging gaze at Shego, "And I still love some of her songs, and MC Honey's _always_ been good..."

"Yeah," Shego nodded almost grudgingly, "Honey's hip-hop's okay, but her blues and R&B is _amazing_..."

"Have you ever heard her cover of 'Strange Fruit', Shego?" Kim asked curiously, knowing she had a copy on her Kimmunicator if Shego hadn't.

"Yeah, live no less..." Shego nodded, a shiver running down her spine, "Eerie how close her voice is to Holiday's..."

"It is..." Kim nodded, "Like I said, this song got me into the genre, and it's one of Ronnie's faves too, for obvious reasons when the song plays..." She shrugged and smiled, pressing the play button on screen.

The song started, the vocals kicking in after a single kick drum beat, and Kim sang along in perfect time with the song, "The way that she moves, well I was aroused; empowered, impassioned by every move!" By the third word, the red-head was half jumping up and down in Ron's arms, moving her head left and right with each bounce to avoid headbutting the blond.

Shego was familiar with the 'slam dance' movement, called the pogo, from her own time spent in mosh pits varying from punk to extreme metal. Hell, she'd even seen one during the MC Honey concert she'd mentioned a moment earlier! She was nonetheless somewhat surprised to see Kim so easily drawn into the motion, but concluded it was fitting for the red-head.

Ron surprised her slightly as well. It seems he had expected the move, as he'd laughed and let go of her, allowing her to bounce back and forth into him, as well as around him as Kim turned to gaze at him while singing, "It's so cold outside, we need a place to hide! Go into the club and thaw out for the night..."

Shego opened her mouth to say something, but Ron began singing along with Kim, "She's automatic, so automatic! The way that she moves, the way that she moves!"

Shego could have sworn that they were an instant or two away from making out in front of her, and couldn't help but chuckle at them and the fact that the two had made the song 'theirs', and a punk rock song at that. "Rancid, huh?" she called over the music, interrupting the second half of their singing the chorus together.

Kim nodded, calling out during the second verse, "Yeah, Tara convinced me to give 'real' punk a chance since I was listening to 'Radio friendly pop-punk that sucks monkey-butt'..." She managed to throw up air quotes without missing a beat, "This was the song she used, and Ron says it reminds him of me!"

"I can see why..." Shego nodded, smiling at Kim as the red-head began to bounce in her direction, angled so she would almost, but not _quite_, collide with the older woman's shoulder. Shego intentionally moved her shoulder towards the younger woman as the red-head pulled back, just catching her, but not throwing her off balance.

Then the second verse was over, and Kim began singing along with the chorus, bouncing around behind Shego's back and bouncing off of her, and then back around. All the while, she put her own emphasis on the words, startling Shego slightly, "She_go_'s automatic, _so_ automatic! The way that she moves, the way that she moves!" Shego began to laugh as Kim came in again, this time slamming into her with some force. Shego adjusted her balance and pushed back, causing Kim to bounce almost all the way back into Ron.

The red-head allowed herself to completely fall back into Ron, and bounced off of him, ignoring the grunt of protest from the blond, before bouncing back towards Shego. Shego tensed, ready to take a body check from the red-head, and laughed again as Kim bounced around behind her, still singing along with the chorus. "She_go_'s automatic, _so_ automatic..." Kim continued, her eyes bright with humor and a laugh in her voice as she stopped pogoing and walked behind Shego.

Shego turned when Kim's singing lessened in volume, half expecting to see the red-head barreling towards her. What she saw caused her to shake her head: Kim was still half bouncing on the balls of her feet and humming along to the music, but she'd turned towards the wet bar, the coffee maker chugging away.

Shego watched Kim for a moment, allowing herself to appreciate the sway Kim had in her hips, and the play of muscle on the red-head's legs, lower back and neck as she swayed to the song. After a moment she caught Ron sharing her gaze, the smile he wore quirked slightly in concern, _Likely from Kimmie's goofy behavior... She's taking his gimmick, after all!_ Shego thought before she laughed and called out, "You're a goofball, Princess!"

"Sometimes!" Kim called back, checking to see if the coffee maker had made enough to pour herself a mug and Rufus a shot glass' worth. Seeing it had, she took out the carafe and began to pour. "Oh, I like this coffee maker!" She glanced back, "Ron, we should get one before we head home!"

"I thought ours at home made great coffee?" Ron protested lightly, now smiling like an idiot and watching Kim's movements like a hawk.

"Yeah," Kim agreed, replacing the carafe to take a sip from the cup, moaning in pleasure. Still bouncing on the balls of her feet, she looked back in front of herself and down, patting Rufus in thanks for starting the coffee, "But this one makes coffee faster and it tastes better... And it's automatic shut off works better, too!" Rufus, having just taken a sip, made a wordless squeak of agreement, before chugging at the hot liquid in earnest.

"We'll see..." Ron chuckled, and glanced at Shego, seeing her gazing in the same manner he was. When the older woman glanced back at him, he teasingly waggled his eyebrows, turning away before he could see her reaction and making his way over to the wet bar, "Coffee sounds good..."

"Leave some for me, guys..." Shego called as she turned back to grab her clothing, feeling a light blush staining her cheeks. _Can't believe the Doofus caught me looking!_ she chuckled to herself, _But Kimmie _is_ in amazing shape..._

"Ronnie?" Shego heard Kim call out as she walked into the bathroom, "What kinda breakfast does this place Falsetto suggested have?"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Hmmm..." Ron pondered as he chewed on the pastry he'd ordered, "I have to say this isn't bad. I mean, I've had better confections, but _La Spécialité_ is kind of a high class restaurant..." He had the pastry tilted back as he regarded Shego, the sharp angle causing some of the glaze to slide back towards the edge.

"And I don't remember _La Spécialité_ making plumb glazed, marzipan filled pastries, either." Shego quipped with a smirk, holding a piece of the same kind of confection in her hand. Then with the other hand, she pointed at the glazing on Ron's, "And speaking of the glaze..."

"Oh, they don't, but the stuff they _do_ have is awesome..." Ron smirked back, leveling the pastry and absently running his tongue around the edge of pastry, flicking his tongue quickly at a few stray drops trying to slide past where he'd already licked. He didn't notice - or more probably ignored - the blush crossing Kim's face. He did notice the raised eyebrow and salacious bent that came to Shego's smirk, however, and blinked at her, "What?"

"Nothin', Ronnie..." Shego said in an innocent tone, before directing her raised eyebrow gaze to Kim, "But I think that tongue work has Princess here thinking about something other than pastries..."

Ron looked down at the pastry, blinked, then looked back at Kim. Realizing what his action must have looked like, he still managed to smile almost as salaciously at the red-head as Shego had at him, "Well, I have to practice sometime, right, KP?"

"Ron!" Kim squeaked, covering her eyes and trying to hide the face burning blush that crept past her hands. She quickly leaned her head forward to let her hair fall over her face, earning a snicker from Shego.

"Y'know, Princess..." Shego said with a grin, "You're too cute at times..."

"No such thing as _too_ cute." Ron shot back, "Badically, cute? Sure, but not _too_ cute..." Ron touched his chin with a finger and glanced up as if in thought, before leveling his gaze back at Kim and saying, "Besides, I think beautiful is _way_ more accurate..."

"Ron..." Kim groaned, her flush deepening, but a delighted giggle escaping her mouth.

"Huh..." Shego said, cocking her head at Kim slightly. Hearing a confused squeak from Rufus, she glanced over at him, and then at Ron, who wore a similar look, even as Kim dropped her hands to see what was going on. "Oh... Well, I know I'm still getting to know you two, I mean, _really_ get to know you... But I don't remember Ron being able to pull off smooth teasing and a compliment without tripping over his tongue."

"I took lessons?" Ron countered questioningly, his face screwed up in confusion. When Kim and Shego both raised eyebrows at him, he chuckled, "Honestly, a lot of it is being a lot more comfortable with where our relationship is... 'Specially after getting past some stupid joke my dad played on me when I was so out of it I took him seriously..."

"Oh, family drama about the relationship?" Shego asked, "Or just stupid things said, and followed up on?"

"Kinda both?" Ron answered uncertainly. He thought a moment, trying to find a simple way to explain it. "My dad said something that had me treating KP really, um... Really stupidly, to be honest. It almost broke us up, and that was what made me confront him about it..." Shego nodded in understanding, and Ron shrugged, reaching out to grasp Kim's hand, "It wasn't a nice confrontation, and got worse when KP visited next... But my 'rents have gotten a lot better since!"

"Thankfully _your_ dad bought a clue!" Kim griped, reaching down with her free hand to grab her _Nusskipferl_ - essentially a sugar crusted _croissant_ stuffed with a crunchy hazelnut and almond paste - to take a huge bite out of it, chewing with vigor.

"Okay..." Shego blinked herself, this time, "So the drama came from _your_ dad, Kimmie?"

"Yeah..." Kim huffed, "And, sorry, Shego, but I really don't wanna talk about it right now."

"Oh, okay." Shego smiled to show she was indeed okay with it, especially seeing how tense Kim was from merely mentioning it, "Hey, Princess, d'ya wanna go do some sparing sometime?"

"Sparing?" Kim blinked, then a slow smile began to cross her face, "You and me?"

"No..." Shego drew out as if she were serious, "I was thinking you and Rufus..."

Kim gaped at her for a second, but a chittering giggle from Rufus, and a loud guffaw from Ron at her face made her flush at taking Shego seriously, "Oh, ha, ha, ha..." Kim brooded on something for a moment, before shaking her head and sighing, "Sorry, still thinkin' about my dad. Anyway, you got a place?"

"Yeah," Shego nodded, accepting Kim's apology without a second thought, "It's a place up on the north side of Munich, near the airport... And after that little snippy display, it sounds like you need it!"

"Probably." Kim griped in a fairly good natured manner, but there was a tension easily visible in her shoulders.

"KP, relax..." Ron laughed, squeezing her hand lightly, glad to feel some of the tension leave Kim's hand. He looked over at Shego, a question on his glace, "Does this place have weights? I like the weight room at the hotel, but it's kinda limited, y'know?"

"Actually, the _dojang_ I like to go to has a pretty well stocked gym attached to it, too." Shego nodded, "Though I'd love to spar with you, too, Monkey Man."

"Oh, you wound me so!" Ron gasped, clutching at his heart as if suffering a heart attack, "Monkey?"

"It fits..." Kim sniggered, punching him lightly on the shoulder, then turning her attention to Shego, "Instead of _do_jo, you said _do_jang? Taekwon Do? Hwarang Do?"

"ITF TKD, under Master Salvatore... He just got his fifth _dan_ this year." Shego confirmed, a smile on her face.

"You know TKD?" Ron asked, honestly surprised.

"Doy..." Shego rolled her eyes, "Where d'you think most of my stances, about a third of my blocks, and some of my kicks come from?"

"I..." Ron started, reaching up with his free hand to scratch at the back of his neck, "I never thought about it, honestly?"

"I figured that's where some of it came from." Kim said, smirking at her fiancé, "Though the blocks do surprise me..." Kim thought about it for a moment, and shrugged with her free arm, "But then again, I haven't had much experience with TKD beyond learning enough to recognize it and counter some of the kicks."

"Well, I usually get some time in there before classes," Shego said, "So I can show off a bit!"

"What, you have a key or something?" Ron asked, and Shego nodded.

"Yeah," she had a wistful smile upon her face, "I kinda helped Master Salvatore open the school back when I first started coming to the 'Fest." She let out a startled chuckle, "I even kept up assisting him when I stopped being a good guy!"

"We're _so_ gonna need to go today!" Kim all but squealed, hopping excitedly in her seat and letting go of Ron's hand to clasp her hands together in a nearly pleading fashion, "Maybe right after breakfast?"

"I thought we were gonna go hit the 'Fest..." Shego said as she pouted slightly, facing the window as if looking to the street below, yet keeping Kim in her peripheral vision.

"We can still get there when it's all open!" Kim countered, a pout of her own beginning.

Shego, knowing what to expect, smirked and turned to Kim. "Gotcha, Princess..." she chuckled, glancing at Ron and Rufus while pointing at the red-head, "I was already planning on it!"

"You..." Kim gasped, dropping her palms to the tabletop and staring at her open mouthed. When the other three at the table began to laugh, she grabbed a somewhat large chunk of her _Nusskipferl_ that had fallen off during her earlier attack on the pastry, and winged it firmly at at Shego.

To Kim's annoyance, the former thief caught it between two fingers while watching the heroine in a sidelong manner. Shego's mirthful smile became a taunting smirk that mixed humor with something Kim couldn't quite put a finger on, and she delicately tore a small section off of the pastry piece. Glancing from Ron to Kim, she winked at the red-head, holding the smaller piece just in front of her mouth, "Y'know, Princess, if you keep feeding me like this, people might start to talk..."

"Hey..." Kim frowned, "You're not supposed to be so good at catching things!" The red-head's face crumpling into a grimace that a quickly rising blush made absolutely adorable.

"Mmmmm..." Shego drew out as she slowly slid the smaller piece into her mouth, chewing with such deliberation it was obvious she was making a show of it, before blinking in honest surprise. "Hey, this _is_ pretty good!" She glanced at a chuckling Ron, waiting until he raised his coffee to his lips before continuing, "Sweet and nutty... Remind you of anyone, Stoppable?"

Ron barely kept himself from a spit-take, favoring Kim and Shego with a considering gaze, "If I say it aloud, no one will find the body intact, and I always wanted to have a presentable funeral..."

"Ron!" Kim protested, slapping his shoulder firmly. The sight was too much for Shego and Rufus, who all but collapsed in a fit of giggles...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Okay..." Shego huffed, settling onto her rear as gracefully as she could manage. Which translated into flopping with a modicum of control onto the hard linoleum of the _dojang_ proper, "That was amazing..."

"Yep!" Kim agreed just as tiredly, already on her back from the last maneuver Shego had performed, a jumping sidekick to her head that had been a feint. The older woman had instead wrenched her whole body into a scissor kick to ankle bar combination, which had forced Kim to tap in submission. "That last move... Was awesome!"

She glanced around when she heard two familiar grunts of approval, seeing Ron and Rufus sitting near to the entryway of the _dojang_. The room was about fifteen meters by twelve meters, and about three in height. Along one wall were mirrors and a dancer's rail, like one would expect in a ballet school, the opposite side had floor to ceiling windows. The glass was split on the top and bottom quarters so they could be opened, as well as equipped with blinds for privacy, and looked out upon a beautifully maintained garden.

The remaining walls were sectioned by walnut trim stained a deep umber, as were the corners, baseboards and crown moulding, while the wall in between was white. The drop ceiling had soft white lighting, and was filled with textured, sound dampening tiles. Aside from the mirror wall and the garden view, it was an almost typical martial arts studio.

"Bad'cal!" Rufus squeaked, jumping and pumping a fist into the air. Kim sat up and beamed a huge smile at her fiancé and his pet.

"Completely badical, all around!" Ron agreed, smiling and tossing two bottles of Florid-Aide at the two women. They both caught their drinks and immediately opened them, drinking greedily, "I almost wish I'd have caught the whole thing."

"Yeah, it was slammin'!" Kim chuckled, "And a lot more intense in some ways than our old fights..."

"Yeah..." Shego agreed easily, "Not as tense or stressful, but without the plasma, we were down to pure martial skill."

"Heh..." Kim grunted, "And I _so_ thought I had that bout, but..."

"Well, a tie's better than a loss." Shego shrugged, a sage tone in her voice, "But I wouldn't mind goin' another for a win!"

"I know..." Kim agreed, capping her bottle and laying down on her side, folding her arms under her head and gazing at Shego with an unreadable, but happy expression, "But if we did, we wouldn't get done 'til about noon..." she pondered for a moment, then shrugged, "But then again, the one tent we didn't want to go to 'til late, um... _Käfer's Wies'n-Schänke_?"

"Yeah, the celeb tent..." Shego pondered for a moment, before shrugging, "Well, after the last few days, it's obvious we're _all_ popular here in Germany," she glanced back at Ron and Rufus, "Especially the Doofus and the rat!" Rufus blew a raspberry at Shego's nickname for him, and she winked, "Anyway, it's a pain to get in after eleven, eleven-thirty if you're not a celeb, but we should visit early, just to see if you like the feel..."

"Cheese tent?" Rufus asked hopefully, a huge, watery eyed smile on his face.

"Yes, Rufus," Shego chuckled, "We're visiting the _Feisingers Ka's und Weinstubn_..."

"Wait, wait..." Ron protested, giving Rufus a look of mock betrayal, his voice sounding as if his very heart was breaking, "There's a whole _tent_ dedicated to cheese, and you didn't tell me?"

"I think he planned on eating it all by his lonesome..." Shego chuckled, earning a hearty nod and chitter of agreement from Rufus, "But you'd have been invited, so it's all good..."

"I'd better have been." Ron pouted, the smile curling the corners of his mouth belying the expression.

"Well, I'll be damned..." a smooth tenor said from the doorway, somewhat startling Kim, Ron and Rufus. They jumped slightly, but their reaction paled in comparison to Shego's, who drew their attention back in whiplash inducing speed.

The older woman kipped to her feet as if she expected to be in combat in a second. But her expression was a what shocked the most: a mix of stunned disbelief, pain, guilt and, above all, sorrow washed across her face in an instant. "H-Harry?"

"Hey, you..." the older man said with a soft, caring smile. He stood well over a head higher than Shego, who stood exactly one hundred and eighty-two centimeters tall. He was well built, bulky but not huge; all in all, he looked more like an exceptionally muscular fencer. His skin was rather darkly tanned, with the red tint some Native Americans bore, and almost leathery in appearance. His salt and pepper hair was cut in a perfect, US Army regulation 'high 'n' tight' style, and he was clean shaven.

His face was a picture of strong jawed wisdom. He had high cheekbones, wide set, perpetually narrowed eyes surrounded by a mix of laugh lines and other, deeper wrinkles. His nose was quite prominent, proudly hooked and looked to have been broken more than once. His eyes were a coal black that almost demanded you look into them, but now sparkled with a flash of emotion almost identical to Shego's. "Long time, no see, girl..."

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Doctor Director," Will called out as he all but stormed into the conference room in GJ Europe's headquarters, "We have a problem that requires your attention."

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen," Betty said courteously to the French ambassador's liaison, Remmy Allard, in his native tongue, "If I may?"

"But of course, Madam Director." the well dressed man with sharp eyes commented easily, "Duty calls."

"Go get your duty done, Doctor Director." the American liaison between GJ Europe and the American Embassy to the European Union, Clarence Rockwaller, smiled in a natural, if worried manner.

"What's going on, Will?" Betty said as the doors closed, clicking her noise generator on and moving her lips out of synch with her voice, "Beta, Gulf, Sierra."

"Trouble, ma'am." Will grunted, pursing his lips, "That may require the services of Shego, and quite probably Miss Possible, as well..."

"Will," Betty said as sharply as she could in the code they were using, "She's on a vacation that's very well earned, and Shego's only contractua-…"

"Ma'am," Will said again, "I understand that but... There's a new villainess... It's one of Kimberly's teachers, and someone Shego knew quite well in college, one Professor Ariana Kempinski. She may have been coerced, but indications are otherwise..." He glanced at his wrist watch, a modification of Kim's wristwatch Kimmunicator, "It seems she, whoever coerced her into working for them, or whoever she hired, has stolen some chemicals that, when combined, could be a very, very deadly nerve agent. She's also GCU's best chemical researcher and organic chemistry teacher."

"Dammit..." Betty paused as they awaited the elevator, "Are there _any_ assets we can bring in on this first?"

"Yes, ma'am." Will nodded, "Already on call and awaiting orders. Team Possible Beta, as we're calling them internally, is investigating over on GCU's campus. I have The Upperclassmen on standby..."

"The Upperclassmen?" Betty asked, brow crinkling.

"Sorry, ma'am." Will said with a light chagrin in his tone, "Professor Kempinski has somehow managed to get into Europe, specifically, Germany, without this coming to our attention until she delivered an ultimatum to GJ proper."

"Not the German government or the European Union, hmmm?" Betty considered for a moment, shaking her head lightly, "Of all the places Miss Possible could have gone..." She glanced at Will sidelong, pursing her lips, "Very well. Is Shego still hanging out with Team Possible Alpha?"

"Yes, ma'am." Will answered.

"Good." Betty nodded decisively, "I'd like you to get ahold of Kimberly and Shego as soon as we have any kind of solid evidence..." Betty paused, considering, "Scratch that, contact them within the next three hours, and let them know we may possibly need them for _one_ mission. Just one, Will... And tell them that if they accept, they _will_ receive a retainer, and if the mission is a go, that it will be a fully compensated mission."

"Ma'am?" Will said with a slight touch of worry, "Considering Miss Possible's reputatio-…"

"Lately, Ronald seems to have more say in decisions such as this," Betty cut him off with a surprisingly gentle smile, reminding him of a report they'd gone over earlier, "And besides which, she should have been paid for every freelance mission she did on our behalf anyway. Make sure she understands it is a standard compensation we at GJ prefer to offer everyone we ask for help, directly or indirectly. And considering that we're interrupting her vacation, we feel it best to offer it for asking..."

"That..." Will said, smirking slightly, "May work. Standard compensation for Shego?"

"Yes." Betty nodded firmly, "Just make sure you at least have Shego on this, but try to get both Shego and Team Possible, Will..."

"Affirmative, ma'am!" Will said with a salute, just as the doors opened into GJ Europe's central command floor...

**Author's Notes**

A dream, a conversation about music, a conversation between old friends cum enemies cum friends once again, a meeting with someone from Shego's past and trouble on the horizon... I wonder sometimes how someone like Kim Possible is sane, but, then again...

Anyway, not much more to say with the AN's, other than, as always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work. As well, remember everyone, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember to review the fics ya like!


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Forward**

Not much to say here, other than review responses!

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations.

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"What're you doi-…" Shego started as she stared at Harold 'Harry' Little Coyote, but then took in the _dobak_, a Korean martial arts uniform similar to the karate _gi_, and the black belt with three golden stripes. She blinked against suddenly misty eyes, and cursed herself under her breath, reminded so blatantly of who started her in Taekwon Do in the first place. "Stupid question... What're you doing in _Germany_?"

Harry sighed slightly, before stepping fully into the doorway, bowing slightly at the waist and slapping his hands gently to his sides as protocol demanded, before entering. He walked forward a few steps, a crooked smile on his face, "I've been stationed here since June of last year, cross training with GJ and German armed forces up in Hohenfels... And since me and my company are on leave, I came down to do my fourth _dan_ test." He paused for a beat and smiled, adding, "And enjoy the 'Fest..."

Shego looked as if she were being torn apart, trying to decide whether to run, or to embrace the man seemed to be the question. "Just that, huh?" Shego squeaked, flushing at the weak, terrified sound in her voice. She couldn't help it, though. Knowing the man in the doorway, and how he always, _always_ thought two or three steps ahead of most men, there had to be more to it than just that. The fact that he had been caught off guard by what happened between her older brother and Harley was merely the exception that proved the rule.

"I might've hoped to run into you here in Munich this year, since I missed ya last year..." he admitted with a slightly chagrined expression, running his hand over his close cropped hair somewhat nervously. The action was surprisingly endearing, making him look more like a boy caught bringing a frog into class than the two hundred and three centimeter tall soldier he was.

"I was kinda stuck with a brain modifying sitch...uation?" Shego flushed slightly, glancing at Kim, Ron and Rufus, who all smiled slightly at her near adoption of one of Kim's catch phrases, "I went from being evil to being so good that Hego would've said I was overdoing it..."

"I heard about that, but I though it was just a rumor..." Harry said, before giving her a serious gaze, looking her straight in the eye, "I... Have something that's yours, Sha-ego?"

The slip didn't go by Shego's two friends, and the older woman sighed, shaking her head at the older man. "I'd prefer Shego, Harry, but... For you, Shay's fine..." Harry's smile fell slightly, and he glanced at Ron and Kim, wondering if they realized just what a gift she'd given them. The somber looks on their faces indicated they might very well understand, and he glanced back at her when she spoke, "What... I mean... You have something for me? I..." She swallowed and took a shuddering breath, "I guess it has something to do with Harley?"

"Yeah..." Harry nodded, again glancing at Kim and Ron. And Rufus, he silently admonished himself, not having seen the clothing challenged rat. Their expressions, if anything, were now sober and worried, and he could only surmise they knew about Shego's past. _That she trusts these two says a lot more about them than the press and everyone else lets on... And how much she's changed._

He drew himself up slightly and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I'll be blunt, Sh-… Shego." She smiled slightly in thanks, flushing slightly at his honest, caring regard, "It's the flag from Harlan's coffin, his medals and a few letters, a couple other things... They were given to Matilda, and she made sure it'd be okay to give them to you, considering you two were engaged..."

Shego's misty eyes broke slightly, a few tears spilling down her face before she could blink them away. She had a strange look on her face, a mix of petulant, guilty and terrified when she finally spoke, "I don't des-…"

"Bullshit!" Harry said, giving her shoulder a firm squeeze, "We all loved you like the daughter, or niece, or sister you were gonna be! Yeah, I know, a lot of pain came out of that, 'specially after the miscarriage! But, Shego... No more of that, please... None of us blamed you, especially Harlan... I _need_ you to know that... So quit blaming yourself. Besides... It was in Harlan's will that you get this..."

"I..." Shego whispered again, glancing over at Kim and Ron, "Is the test today?"

"No, I was here to practice..." Harry said, his tone slightly evasive, "I'm guessin' you want to go get 'em now?"

"If..." She glanced back at her friends, "If that's okay?"

"Shego," Kim said firmly, "You don't even have to ask." Ron and Rufus nodded in adamant agreement.

Shego reached up and patted Harry's hand, then walked over to enfold a startled girl and her fiancé in a tight hug, "Thank you..."

"None needed..." Ron said as Kim opened her mouth to give her standard response. Fortunately, Ron caught her attention behind Shego's back and mouthed, "Very big..."

"Yeah," Kim said, both to Ron and herself as Rufus patted Shego's head, "None at all..."

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Mechanic, four are coming on the right, quite fast and furious!" Pipes of The Upperclassmen called out, knowing the warning was likely unnecessary, but not wanting to take the chance.

"I see 'em, thanks!" Mechanic called out, tossing two flashbangs in their path. The henchmen saw them a half second too late, and were caught in the blast radius and went down, groaning and rubbing at their eyes. X dropped down from his buildingtop perch and knocked them out efficiently, before calling out to the team leader of the Marseille, France _groupes d'intervention de la police nationale_, or GIPN squad, in the man's native tongue, "We have a total of six down on this side of the building..."

"We have seven over on our side, but five managed to get past us!" the man answered in a deep, gravelly voice, "And we have two men down from their stun staves."

"Understood, three got past us." X admitted, "The leader was in a hard suit similar to your own men's suits, but with better insulation. They may be able to get past us if they have similarly armed compatriots waiting..."

"I should hope not!" the Frenchman growled, barking a few orders over the general net, "We have half of our team here!"

"I understand commander, but these men are _very_ well trained..." X pondered that statement, quickly coming to a decision, "Just in case, I will watch for aerial or ground forces, and I'm sending Mechanic and Pipes in to assist you."

"Thank you!" the Frenchman answered sincerely, "Hopefully we will catch them before they steal what they are after!"

"Indeed!" X looked around, not seeing anything, but feeling as if he were being watched from above."Any idea what they're after?"

"We had worried they were after a prototype guidance system, however, they are in the final pre-production test area..." the Frenchman answered, "The only thing of any particular value there fits well with their radio chatter about a new, compact railway AC to DC voltage converter..." There was a brief murmur of conversation on his side, "And our radiowoman just confirmed, they are not afte-..."

A loud, thunderous impact rocked the building, interrupting the GIPN commander, the impact knocking Pipes from his feet and onto his rear as the ceiling next to him seemed to explode. "We have discovered their escape route!" he gasped, "It is the roof! They have a very large mechani-…"

"JSDF Type 106 MoSCASP!" Mechanic shrieked, diving for her husband and bulling him out of the way as the monstrosity's main gun fired. The Type 106 was different from the Type 104 that Ron and The Clockwork Knight had dealt with days earlier, in that it was designed as a literal mobile tank. It was powered by the most advanced battery pack known to pre-Invasion mankind, one that even Jack Hench had trouble replicating, even with a stable of mad scientists at his beck and call.

In addition to thicker armor, heavier duty arms and legs and much heavier armaments over the Type 104, the suit also bore a so-called 'micro-antigrav' device. It was large enough to allow the huge machine to fall from twenty stories as if it had jumped from the back of a truck, as well as allow limited flight and extended jump maneuvers with its built in micro-jets. It's negatives were it's sheer size, bulk and overall mobility.

Unfortunately, once it was in a relatively stable position, it was deadly, even with 'less than lethal' anti-riot armaments, as this one bore. Pipes and Mechanic barely managed to dodge the first volley from the main gun, a huge, mass dispersal projected 'Tasing' field. Quite similar to the stun ball staves Dr. Drakken had originally invented, it projected a crescent shaped field in a vaguely arc shaped, flat pattern. The effective maximum range was approximately fifty meters, and the suggested minimum was ten. Any closer, and there was potentially enough charge to kill an unarmored, ungrounded human.

At the sub-two meter range of Pipes and Mechanic, a center mass shot, such as the one Pipes almost received, _would_ have been lethal... Had they not been in the suits. As it was, Mechanic was thankful the suits lived up to their billing, or she might have found herself unable to move as the crescent of energy arced around her leg.

"What is one of those doing here?" Pipes asked, earning a riot of confusion through his communicator, "We are in France, are we not?"

"I am uncertain, Pipes," X chimed in as he dropped towards the hole in the roof, hoping he was in time to avoid another charge from the main cannon. He was in luck, and his arm snapped out, a familiar grapnel launching from the end of the armor on his forearm and wrapping around the canon. He immediately reeled in some of the line to hasten his descent, pulling himself around in a literally body wrenching maneuver, before sliding down the hallway the machine was in.

His initial move had pulled the big machine halfway off balance, and as he came to a halt he stood to his full height and pulled back, much as he had several times in his life marlin fishing. Had the pilot been more experienced, or had they been on tarmac as opposed to a linoleum covered concrete floor, the machine might have retained it balance. The maneuver the older man performed, however, was the final straw for the inexperienced pilot. With a hydraulic groan of protest the big machine fell onto its face, even as he called out in French, "I did not see where it dropped from, I must assume its origin is within a stealth field!"

"I concour!" the GIPN commander agreed as the aircraft with the stealth field appeared. It was a huge aircraft, one that would normally have been unable to take up the position it was in: a stub winged C-5 Galaxy. The wings had been removed less than four meters from the fuselage, and a device the size of its normal engine was grafted onto the end. The devices had a subtle near-glow to them, indicating a heavily overworked anti-grav and propulsion field, quite similar to what Drew Lipsky had designed for his hovercraft. As a dozen henchmen dropped from the craft, the sounds of DeMenz Gruppe GmbH SBR rifles firing in burst mode came over the GIPN commander's comm., "As we can all see, of course..."

"We might have to let them go..." Mechanic lamented through gritted teeth as Pipes dropped in on X's orders to disconnect the Type 106's external power runs, hopefully disabling the machine. If it was a Type 106 mark A through D, it would; if it was a mark E, the Lorwardian derived backup electrical storage capacity wold leave them stuck in one hell of a fight for at least another two minutes, "One stray shot and that thing could come down in the city..."

"Can you get a tracking device on the ship?" X asked over their private channel, sighing in relief as the mech froze in its face down position.

A small window opened up, showing Bonnie's face lighting up with almost manic glee as she confirmed his question, "You bet, Daddy!"

"Be careful, my Bonnie..." Junior said over the same, private channel.

"No worries, baby!" she promised, before opening up the main channel again, "I'm going to scout that thing out!"

"Roger!" came back from the GIPN commander, and Mechanic's jets activated, "Be careful, they seem to have installed point defe-nngh!"

Mechanic saw immediately what had happened to the GIPN commander: the crew that the modified C-5 dropped had hooked up with their compatriots within the building. The now much larger group had stormed one of the GIPN forces six man teams and knocked them all out.

"Gentlemen," X said to the GIPN team, "We will secure this floor and the mech, unless you need us down with you or on the ground?"

"As the commander said," the second squad's leader answered tensely, "Although we only have the barest idea why they would need the voltage converters, we shall let them go... For now!"

"Affirmative!" X called, watching as Mechanic flew almost literal rings around the huge craft, somehow avoiding any fire from the anti personnel point defense system. He was immensely thankful that they had not opened up with the heavier anti-aircraft defenses! The four thirty millimeter canon, and what he presumed were anti-aircraft missiles hidden behind sliding, aerodynamic enclosures, would have killed her. Then again, it went to support his earlier supposition that these were Union henchmen and women...

His heart almost stopped as Mechanic took a trio of Taser shotgun rounds to the chest and dropped onto the roof of the plane.

"In place!" Mechanic coughed, having somehow slid the tiny device in the sliding carapace of the anti-aircraft enclosure. She then did what looked like a half drunken crawl, half uncontrolled slide as two henchmen came out of an access hatch that should not have been in place. They looked as if about to run for her, but she was already falling off of the trailing edge of a wing, and gave them a middle finger salute before reigniting her jets, her flight slightly wobbly as she made her way back to the roof.

"They've picked up their men!" the senior conscious GIPN troop called out. X grunted an acknowledgement, unwilling to speak until Pipes caught the heavily panting Mechanic. A few seconds later and he was doing just that as she dropped through the newly made skylight in the building.

"Are you alright?" X and Pipes asked at the same time, and she grunted a strangled affirmative.

"These damn things _hurt_ when they hit!" she groused, "Worse than getting into a towel snapping contest with Kim..."

"What was the range when this hit?" X asked, carefully pulling the barbed rounds out of the surface layer of the suit.

"About twenty feet from all three." Mechanic griped, rubbing the spots with her hand, "The padding worked, obviously!" she managed a light, if pained chuckle, "Otherwise, I think I'd have broken something since I was goin' about eighty miles per..."

"This is a good thing!" Pipes' relieved smile was clearly audible over the channel as he gave her a quick hug, followed by a pouty voiced, "But you will probably bruise..."

"I used to get 'em all the time cheerleading, baby..." she said softly as she snuggled into him, then turned her head to X, "How's the tracker working?"

"To quote an old radio operator phrase, my dear," X grunted in almost sadistic satisfaction, "Coming in five-by-five..."

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Edward 'Motor Ed' Lipsky, Ph.D., Dr. Eng., Dr. Areo. Eng., Dr. SE., and half a dozen other degrees and certifications involving vehicular sciences, was a happy man. Most people wouldn't believe it if they saw it, especially as he reached over to crank the tunes in his _girl's_ ride. A ride he had been the passenger in not a half hour ago!

Which, amazingly, was his normal position in this particular car. His girl preferred to do the driving, after all! But she was still adjusting from the time change from her own country to Germany's time. Specifically, Munich, Germany's time, since that's where the two were heading. And so she slept, and let the only other person she'd allow to drive her car take the wheel. And they were gonna enjoy Oktoberfest for a couple days!

_The biggest beer and babes party in the world, seriously!_ He'd said as much two days before, when he'd been invited by an... Associate, to join him in Germany. For business, of course. But during Oktoberfest, how much business could pass by without some pleasure?

_Seriously,_ Ed chuckled as he down shifted out of a corner that he felt was a 'one-eighty miler', dropping the hammer to jump back up towards his preferred Autobahn speed. One quick, smooth up shift later and he smiled as the car settled in just shy of two hundred miles per hour. Or around three twenty kilometers per hour, as they said here in Europe and in his girl's... No, his _woman's_ home country. The correction he was always bandying about to himself brought another grin to his face.

Once his cousin, Drew, had seriously hooked up with a babe that was, in Ed's opinion, a _seriously_ righteous babe in her own right - brains, musical taste _and_ looks that men would kill for in one package - Ed knew the clock was ticking. The clock in question was how long until both his and Drew's moms started harping on Ed himself to get hooked up. And he'd found his woman completely by accident!

He'd been over in Japan, trying to keep himself out of trouble at his mom and aunt Beatrice's request... Well, relatively, anyway... After all, he'd been in Japan! Home of awesomely, seriously modified, and sometimes seriously _ridiculously_ modified, small cars, drifting, and a sports coupe called a Skyline that was nicknamed 'Godzilla'! How could he _not_ get involved in some street racing? Especially in areas that had intact roads, but trashed out buildings and no traffic?

The government was even seriously considering a request by the illegal racing community to keep those places traffic free, but tear down most of the trashed buildings and keep the roads up, for drifting and such so people would be able to compete! But, even if they did do that in the future, Ed had been over to race! And damned if he didn't run into a woman that he'd seen working on her own 'Godzilla'. He'd thought, at first, that it'd been the Green Fire Babe, what with the car's green and black paint scheme, and the dark green neon underneath the car and in strategic places about the car.

And, of course, the ass that was sticking up and bobbing in time with some seriously awesome tunes! The only hottie with that kind of rear he'd _ever_ seen with a love of cars, who also listened to music like that, was the Green Fire Babe. And he'd started unconsciously nodding his head in time to both the babe's rear and Accept's "Balls to the Wall", he'd come up and commented on the beauty he'd seen.

She'd stopped moving, and turned to him, her eyes flashing in a mix of slightly embarrassed appreciation and annoyance, only to see his eyes starting awestruck at the engine bay of her car. She'd smiled, answering affirmatively to his question about it being an R-34, GT-R V-Spec with a seriously modified engine. She'd began to grin appreciatively at his correct identification to each mod, both 'professional' aftermarket parts and 'home-brew' parts. They'd spoken for several minutes, knowledgeably, about the modifications. Then he'd complimented her musical tastes, and finally her physical looks.

She'd been shocked he'd appreciated her mechanical acumen, her musical tastes, her intelligence and _then_ her looks, and had said as much. He'd admitted he's noticed the car and her bouncing rear first, and that he'd seriously misinterpreted who he'd thought she was. Then he'd admitted that he'd love to take a ride in her car, despite his preference to American muscle as he'd pointed at his own car. When she'd seen his car, and shrieked like a fangirl at seeing a 'restomod', 1972 Dodge Challenger.

A beautiful light green metallic, he had modified it to look like a mix of the original and the new one they were releasing later in the year, but kept some of the most beautiful lines of the old school. He had put the latest generation of brakes, suspension, safety, fuel injection, convenience and entertainment features. Of course, it was still the old school, body on frame beast it had been, but after he'd gotten ahold of it, BEAST in all caps was how it was spelled!

Of course, normally when a chick gave a reaction like that, he'd have thrown in a crude comment about his road of love or offer her a tour of the pit stop of passion. But he hadn't. He seriously hadn't! He still marveled at that, but it was understandable; she was a beautiful Japanese girl, with the strangest mix of being the model of a demure, proper Japanese woman, a minx in sheep's clothing and mechanical genius in one! He'd been halfway in lust from the first second he'd seen her and her car, and halfway in love by the end of their conversation...

And completely, seriously _besotted_ the instant she'd shrieked and begged him, seriously _begged_ him, for a ride, saying his car was the American style of muscle car she loved above all others! The fight they'd gotten into after winning some serious cashola on some racing had been icing on the proverbial cake. Not only did they share so much in common, his woman had seriously shown some fighting skills that would've put Red and Green Fire Babe to the test! She'd even used metal fans to fight! Not the car kind, of course, but the old school, cool yourself off kind...

Which was so seriously weird, but even more seriously awesome, that Ed couldn't help but admit he'd fallen for her. When she'd blushingly asked him if he were single, he'd all but proposed to her, she'd all but proposed back, and they'd both all but accepted in a few jumbled, confused, laughingly shared sentences.

And since they'd been in Kyoto on business, she'd even introduced her to her father and brother. Her father seriously looked more like her grandpa, but was a seriously cool old dude! Her brother was a pretty boy that could kick ass almost as good as his little sister, and loved high speed crotch rockets. Something that he could respect, even if he preferred Harley Davidson bikes to crotch rockets.

And now here he was, feeling like he was bent over like a hunchback, despite having the seat all the way back and the seatback leaned halfway down, in _her_ car. Driving on _the_ Autobahn. And the first two hours of the drive, _she'd_ been driving, despite his long held belief that he'd never let a chick drive when he could.

Because he couldn't imagine a more perfect place to be, than in a car, with his woman, listening to awesome tunes, at _seriously_ high rates of speed. And his seriously righteous babe was sleeping right next to him, looking for all the world like an angel. His heavy metal, gearhead angel! And they were gonna be two days early for their meeting with his business associate, and she'd told him she wanted to try the, 'European style drinking and partying' he'd bragged about being almost as good as his 'American style of drinking and partying'.

_Yes,_ Edward Lipsky concluded, reaching over to run his large, but surprisingly tender hand over his woman's shapely, well muscled thigh... And leaving it in place unless he had to shift, despite traveling at over three hundred kilometers per hour, _I'm a _seriously_ happy man! And, over the next two days, me and my woman are gonna tear Munich_ up_!_

And he was making it his personal mission to _seriously_ destroy any_one_ or any_thing_ in his path to keeping that very happiness!

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Y'all'd bett'r not be suggestin' a walk inna park..." the muscular, auburn haired teen grumbled, as if not realizing she'd spoken aloud.

"Joss?" Felix asked uncertainly, trying his best not to gulp as Joss closed her eyes in what appeared to be annoyance and sighed. She'd hit the nail on the head, but he smothered his surprise under a gaze of concern at her outburst. She gave another, fainter sigh, and her eyes opened quickly before turning to him, favoring him with a seemingly normal smile. But Felix had come to know the young woman well enough to know just how badly he was screwing tonight up.

It'd started out the night he'd been in the hospital, of course. She'd convinced him to try one date, just to see if they'd work out or not. He'd thought he knew what she liked, and had planned the date out accordingly. A fun dinner at the Fun House - a pizza and steak house that catered to nerds and gamers - then a trip to the movie theater to watch the "Bricks of Fury" reboot, followed by a visit to an exhibit at the university. The last bit had been, to Felix's mind, genius: it mixed art, something that the Montanan enjoyed, with engineering, something she enjoyed more than her art.

Yet... He'd heard some things from people on campus, about Joss' tastes, and had changed his mind. That she was a big city girl, with big city girl interests at heart, no matter how much she tried to act the hick and nerd chick. She was a giving woman, and didn't want to make people think she hated anyone, but just look at some of the guys she'd dated in high school: four popular jocks, who she broke up with because they were too handsy, a pretty boy or two, and, rumor had it, she'd given a pity screw to a couple nerds who immediately spread it about that they'd scored with her!

Felix had been uncomfortable with some of the info he'd heard. He knew, after talking with Joss over the weekend, that some of it was jealousy of girls, much like Bonnie's jealousy of Kim. And, he had to admit, even at sixteen, Joss was more physically attractive, in his eyes, than her world saving cousin. She had wider hips than Kim, and while she had more extraneous body fat than her cousin, she still had a cut, rather built up musculature, and was, as far as her cardiovascular health, very, _very_ fit. Which meant, of course, that when she moved, the incredibly well toned rear and the wider hips were utterly _hypnotic_!

Which was something Felix _liked_ in a woman. A _lot_! And that didn't even include her button-nose-cute face and the incredibly well developed bosom. Granted, she wasn't huge, especially with as athletic she was, but she was a full cup size and a half larger than Kim, maybe more! And... He would be a liar if he said he didn't appreciate it!

But... That was the women. The guys, though? Sure, some of them might be bitter that Joss had turned them down, but surely most of them were more... Grown up than that? And then there was the guy that was Joss' ex. He wasn't bitter, according to what Felix could see, and he'd mentioned a few things he'd done with Joss for dates, which were just the things that Felix was planning... And how disastrously the dates had gone for him.

And Joss still spoke about her ex as a friend, and Felix had watched them interact. There was some tension, but that'd be expected, right? And he wasn't the only one saying she didn't like "...regular _guy_ stuff..." _But everything he said would work for dating Joss isn't..._

He fought the urge to shake his head, lest the tense, borderline angry woman at his side let loose the frustration written plainly across her entire being. _She's already mentioned my seeming indecision... Twice._ He tried not to wince as he remembered her last comment when they'd gone to the theater and he'd dithered about the movie.

She'd still been annoyed by their visit to Applebee's, despite the hints she'd dropped about the Fun House all weekend. He'd been smart enough to leave the choice to her, but they'd been standing on the side of the theater for some romantic chick flick. At least he'd had an honest excuse: the door on the side was automatic, and wider, than the other door! And she'd chosen "Bricks of Fury", but she'd let her opinion be known, loudly, that she wouldn't be caught dead in the other movie. Felix had, at that point, started to reconsider his revisions to the original plans, but...

Now he was driving in a direction that _could_ take them to the park... But also to the area of Montana State University where the exhibit was being held. "Um, the park's on the way, so if you _want_ to..." he lied smoothly, hoping that, in her annoyed state, she wouldn't realize how nervous he was at the act.

He felt as if his stomach was about to drop out of the bottom of his body, taking his broken legs and most of his torso with it, when Joss barked, "Hell no!" She stared at him for a long moment, before sighing yet again and shaking her head with a rueful smile, before glancing out at the very park they were driving by, "Y'know, 'Lex, I _do_ love th' outdoors, but I've spet a whole helluva chunk'a my life out in it..."

"Oh, okay, glad I didn't actually plan on the park..." Felix said with a nervous laugh, "Um... Hey, Joss?" She looked back at him and he smiled at her, "Sorry about earlier, I was being kinda stupid..."

The auburn haired teen gave a non committal grunt, and Felix flushed slightly. With a grimace, Joss shook her head, "I'm sorry too, 'Lex... Th' way I was actin' wasn' all that fair of me..."

"It's alright..." Felix assured her, as he pulled into the university, and parked, " I mean, I've been out of the dating game for a while, and kinda didn't think I'd be back into it so soon, so I kinda forced all of that from my head..." A moment after he stopped speaking, Joss realized they'd stopped and actually looked away from him as he nodded outside of the car, "But there is something opening up here at the school I thought you'd wanna see..."

"You..." Joss said, blinking in surprise as she realized the building they'd stopped at. "You're takin' me t' th' _Engineering in Art in Engineering_ exhibit?"

The only word to describe Joss' reaction was a girlish squeal. She launched herself across the center console at him, uncaring that his wheelchair's arm was digging into her ribs as she gave him a tight hug and a short, but delighted kiss. It was a kiss that promised future passion, if he was willing to pursue it, but it also showed restraint, in case he wanted to wait.

When she pulled back from him, she was blushing slightly, but before she could apologize, he held a hand up to brush her cheek, "Glad you like the idea, Joss..." His words gave her pause, and he raised an eyebrow at her, "Apology accepted?"

"Yes, yes, _yes_!" Joss babbled at him, giving him another hug, "Wasn' needed in th' firs' place, but thank ya so, so, _so_ much, 'Lex..." She started half bouncing, half dancing in her seat as she looked at the building in front of them, "I've wan'ed t'see this since I f'rst heard 'bout it!"

Felix let out as unobtrusive a sigh of relief as he could as Joss jumped out of the car, racing around to his side to help him out. That was another thing he liked so much about her: despite being the girl, she had no problem holding doors for him, be it in a building, or his own car. _I could get used to this..._ he thought with a mental laugh, _I just gotta remember for the next date... She's a lot like me, so ask _her_ what _she'd_ like to do, next time, don't listen to what those idiots at school _think_ she'll like!_

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Kim and Ron were silent as they made their way to the room they shared at the Hausmann Suites, something Shego was thankful for. Not that she would have been happy if they'd have left her alone, that would have been much, much worse. But, as she'd told them when they'd stopped by Harry's apartment, she'd let them know what she'd received, she just needed time to collect herself.

Shego sighed unobtrusively, thinking about how Kim had smiled and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, Ron and Rufus immediately mimicking the silent and - to the older woman's shock - welcome gesture. _Bud was right, they _do_ care..._ she thought to herself, _How'd the li'l shit get so perceptive?_

She found, after a brief moment's thought on it, that she didn't care. She was just happy he'd been right, about them... And possibly about the rest. Shego let out a strained, worried sigh as Kim slid her keycard into the door's reader, swallowing the bile she'd felt subsume her breakfast. The one thing she missed about being a villain: despite the running for her freedom, and in a few cases, her life, she wasn't nearly as stressed.

She wouldn't have it any other way, however, and the thought drew a fragile laugh from her throat. "What's up, Sheegs?"

Shego looked at Ron, not bothering to correct him on the nickname. She was too drawn out for that. With a heavy sigh, she went over to the table and opened the smallish, olive drab duffel bag and removed the contents. She set them down with more reverence than she had when she'd set an original Monet painting down in front of Jack Hench, in his inner office - the one between his work office and his in-suite bedroom - to prove she was a bad guy.

A triangularly folded United States flag, resting on a red velvet lining within a beautiful, golden stained oak and glass case, with his full name and dates of entry into service and his death engraved into the glass.

A green velvet jewelry case about ten centimeters long, five wide and two deep.

Several pictures, one printed out on copier paper, a few on photo printer paper, and a few professionally finished pictures, a Polaroid, and a carefully folded picture that looked almost like an abstract piece of art.

Then two hand written letters, and several official looking documents.

One letter was from Matilda had two sets of tear stains, one old, one fresh. The other letter had a dark, almost black substance on one corner, which after a moment's looking, Kim, Ron and Rufus realized was blood.

She looked at the photos first, letting her friends see each in turn. The one printed on copier paper was a picture taken in a military hospital, Harley holding up an arm and pointing at his stitches with a look of faux agony on his face. Shego, somehow, managed a weak laugh at the sight, "That's _so_ Harley..."

Two of the three pictures on photo printer paper showed Harlan in his full dress uniform as he received his first two purple hearts. The apparently newer picture showed a slightly older Harlan standing on a stage, receiving the medal from a Lieutenant Colonel with dozens of medals on his chest. The second was apparently taken after the award was given, Shego was visible slightly in the background, an angry glower on her face.

The third was taken around the same time as the second, and showed him standing atop a hill in some kind of high plains desert at sunset. He had blood visible on his left arm, but he nonetheless held firmly to his M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. He looked every inch the soldier as he stared off into the valley below, his pose and bearing one action movie stars would kill to have.

"He was cute..." Kim said softly as Shego stared at the last picture.

The older woman merely nodded at her, gently brushing a finger over the face in the picture, "That was Mexico..." Shego whispered, "I was so mad he got hit, but... When I found out he'd saved some kids, after the second picture was taken, I couldn't stay that mad, even if I'd have wanted to..."

"You were in love," Ron posited, "And he saved kids... I'm pretty sure those were huge parts of it..."

"Yeah..." Shego held up the professional looking photos. Shego stood between Harlan and Vivian Porter, an arm around Harlan, all three of them holding up a Maß of beer, obviously taken at Oktoberfest, "This was my first Oktoberfest..."

The second picture was taken at a fancy looking restaurant. Shego was dressed to the nines, but staring in shock at a kneeling Harlan, tears plainly visible in her eyes. Harlan was in his full dress uniform, and was looking up at Shego, holding a black velvet case in his hands, his intent obvious.

"Wow..." Ron chuckled, a goofy grin on his face, "He was a romantic, wasn't he? You two looked awesome together!"

"We did..." Shego agreed, then looked at the Polaroid. She was wearing a nice looking dress, and Harlan was in a tux that, while well fitted, looked just inexpensive enough to be a rental. "Prom..." Shego explained almost needlessly, earning a chuckle from Kim and Ron, and a soft coo of appreciation from Rufus.

"What's that?" Ron asked after a long moment of Shego staring at the folded paper. Shego blinked, startled by his question.

With a strange, regretful reverence, she turned the paper to face them, revealing a sonogram about five months along, "T-this... This was going to be Samantha..." Kim gasped in shock, covering her mouth and blinking against sudden tears. Ron was blinking himself, and Shego continued with a strong, but pained voice, "He told him mom, that if I ever called her, to let me know he promised he'd always keep this with him..."

Before her friends could say anything, she moved on to the last of the things in the duffel bag. Several service medals and corresponding ribbons. The first ones that Shego noted were the the purple hearts. "Two for wounds, and the third for..." She paused to swallow against a suddenly closed throat, "For his death..."

"Oh..." Kim said softly, moving around the table to stand behind Shego. She unconsciously placed a hand on the older woman's shoulder, not flinching when a hand reached up and gave a squeeze of thanks.

"The battle he died in is where he got this, too..." Shego continued, brushing her fingers across a medal attached to a ribbon with a wide, blue band, that had a two narrow white stripes between the blue stripe and the slightly wider, red stripes at the edges of the ribbon. The medal's pendant was a bronze cross, just over five centimeters tall and almost that wide. Centered on the cross was an eagle displaying its wings, looking to its right. Clutched in its talons was a wreath that went around to meet above its head, and a scroll, with the word 'FOR' on the eagle's right and the word 'VALOR' on its left.

Kim gasped, remembering a report Steve Barkin had the Social Studies class he'd taught write a report on United States military decorations. Each student took a decoration, and Kim had chosen the second highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross. She'd found the award to be, in her opinion, a higher honor in some ways than the Medal of Honor; there was simply less politics involved in the Distinguished Service Cross.

"He saved two squads of special forces, a company of Global Justice agents, several local and international politicians and hundreds of civilians by standing his ground..." Shego whispered, "It was a military situation, all hard ammo and such..." Shego sighed, her memory of Harlan's duties as fresh in her mind as they had been back when he was alive. "He was the squad machine gunner, and they were trapped... He took all the ammo the other squad's machine gunner could spare, as many grenades as he could carry, which was pretty much what was left in his squad, and high tailed it to a defensible position. Managed to draw their fire..."

She glanced at the commendation paper, "That's what Harry told me, anyway..." At Kim and Ron's questioning expression, Shego elaborated, "Harry's platoon was doin' another op in the area, and were held up reinforcing Harley's squad due to mechanical problems... By the time they got there, th-they..."

"You don't have to go on, Shego..." Shego drew a shuddering breath as Kim's soft whisper washed over her face. She glanced over and saw that Kim was in tears, leaning down to be at eye level and barely ten centimeters from the pale woman's face. It startled the former thief, when she realized that her eyes were dry.

"We don't want you to hurt yourself to do this, Sheegs..." Ron's thick, heavy tone drew her eyes, and what Shego saw took her from the surprise of Kim's tears to absolutely floored; Ron's pale brown eyes were shining and tears trailed down his face. Even Rufus' eyes were crinkled in as sympathetic expression as his face could muster.

For some reason, the hand on her right shoulder felt almost as if it was an arm embracing her in a hug. Then her right hand was enfolded in both of Ron's. She glanced down, seeing just how big his hands were. _He's still got a growth spurt in him, I bet..._ she thought idly, wondering how, at that moment, she could concentrate on such a bland observation.

Her mind was screaming at her, telling her that there were far more pressing things to concentrate on. Such as why she felt such comforting warmth flowing from the hands around her own, and from the hand on her shoulder. Why, although she still hurt, the pain wasn't filled with the daunting fear it had possessed before, the agony dulled from fire searing her veins to a dull heartache. How, why these two could do such a thing to her...

"I do, Pumpkin, Sport..." Shego whispered to Kim, interrupting her own thoughts as if they were unimportant. Because, in the long run, she _knew_ that those thoughts _were_ unimportant! That those questions were answered by the simple fact that they were. Because what was more important, was that she _had_ to continue, because she had to exorcise this... And with a sudden, amazed thought, she _knew_ that she could continue. Because... Because she felt... Something. She pondered it for a brief moment that felt next to eternal, and slowly, part of the mystery unfolded itself in the depths of her mind like a flower after a long, dark night.

She knew that these three people wouldn't push her, unless it was needed. They would wait for _her_ to decide when to talk, when to let it out; at least, if whatever it was that tore her up was hurting her so much it was agonizing to them. And even then... _They wouldn't do it for themselves... But for _me_, to make sure _I_ was okay... And they'd still give me the out, like they are now..._

"I do, because..." She glanced between the three of them, "Because you're my friends, and I trust you." Her face broke into a fragile smile, "Like I said the other night... This is a way to get this out of my head, to stop it eating away at me... And if I can't share this kinda shit with friends, _true_ friends..." She paused to close her eyes, hanging her head and swallowing against a lump in her throat, a lump of fear she'd had since Harley had died, since she's shoved Vivian's friendship away. "If I _can't_, then I don't _deserve_ friends like you..." She'd said the same thing to Vivian, what she considered an ultimate truth, the day she'd shoved the blonde woman's caring away. She hadn't meant to hurt Vivian, but... It was to protect her best friend at the time!

But, in the end, it had been more to protect _herself_ than the beautiful blonde. _God..._ Shego realized, _I really, _really_ need to apologize to her... Again..._

But that would be later. She opened her eyes as she felt Kim's hand gently pushing her hair to the side, and felt Kim's full, firm lips pressing gently against her cheek, "How about you let _us_ be part of judging that, too, Shego?"

"She-..." Shego began questioningly, then stared at Kim, as if just realizing the red-head had kissed her cheek. She felt heat spread across her face from that spot, and could only hope that the pale salmon she normally blushed - due to her skintone and still having red blood - was absent. As it was, she swallowed again, this time against the her very pride, and whispered, "I... My name... My _real_ name is Shay, guys... Shay Gottlieb..." Her smile, if anything, grew more fragile as she continued, "You... You've earned knowing that, and... If you want, you can call me by my name. At least in private, I mean... Um..."

Kim's face was full of gleeful wonder as she stared into the older woman's eyes, "Thank you, Sh-... Shay..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them and glancing over at Ron, "It means... It means a lot..."

"It's _so_ does, Shay..." Ron smiled at the older woman, Rufus making a strangely weepy sounding chitter of agreement. Shego felt her last reservations about the friendship she felt towards the two teens and Rufus dissolve like a sand castle at high tide. "Though I'll probably end up calling you Sheegs a lot..." Ron added, and Shego let out a light, fragile laugh when the clothing challenged rat nodded in agreement and gave her two thumbs up and a huge, if still teary eyed, smile.

"My mom got the name from a friend of hers that was Jewish..." Shego said after a moment, hoping that speaking about her name would help curb the roiling of emotions within her, "Mrs. Behrman said that 'Shay' is a different form of 'Shai', and means 'gift'..." Shego's smile lost much of its fragility, and gained a wistful quality as she glanced down at the tabletop, her hair falling such that it obscured her face, and she let herself become lost in her memories, "It came about because my mom said that I was a girl, and that after Hego, I was the perfect gift..."

After a moment of silence, Kim lifted the hand she had on Shego's shoulder to gently slide the hair from the older woman's face, gently moving it to settle behind the pale woman's ear. She couldn't help but marvel at the play of deep forest green highlights over the shimmering black of her hair. "It's a beautiful name..." Kim finally murmured, .

"And a beautiful story behind the name..." Ron added, with a powerful nod of agreement from Rufus.

Shego glanced at Ron, then turned towards Kim, whose fingertips were still resting just behind the older woman's ear. The action caused the pale woman's cheek to fall into Kim's palm, and she blinked up at the red-head, who continued to smile down at her. She felt the younger woman's thumb wiping at a tear rolling down her right cheek, a tear she didn't realize she'd shed. She opened her mouth, barely managing to croak out, "Princess?"

"Why cry now?" Kim asked, uncertain why she'd asked that, but not backing down from the question.

"I-I..." Shego stammered, swallowing, "I'm... Not sure why, but hearing you, both of you, say my name's beautiful, it..."

"But it is beautiful..." Ron chimed in just as softly as Kim had, "Just like you... You're truly beautiful, Shay..." he smiled when Kim glanced over at him, her eye narrowing ever so slightly in annoyance at how easily he'd switched from Shego to Shay, "And you're amazingly pretty, and you have a badical body..."

Kim and Shego both blinked. Kim's eyes widened slightly from their annoyed state to honest surprise, but Shego swore she saw a spark of... Happiness? And something else, deep within. Shego, not sure how to react to the spark she saw, turned to Ron, trying to ignore the cold feeling of Kim's hand leaving her cheek for her shoulder again, to address him, "Um... That made sense, kind of?"

"Sorry..." Ron smiled slightly, glancing between the two women he explained his meaning, "I'm weird, Shego... Kim can tell you just how weird, if you've never noticed?" They all shared a brief chuckle, Ron quickly becoming serious as he continued, "But I don't find anyone beautiful, physically. For me, beautiful is... An overall thing?" Shego nodded for him to continue, "Like... I can find another woman, aside from Kim, to be really pretty, and stuff. Or have an amazing, badical body, y'know? But I've only ever found a few women beautiful."

Ron paused to let that sink in, and continued when Shego nodded, "Kim's the first woman I found beautiful, and for the longest time? The only woman I found truly beautiful..." He paused, as if to let that sink in, and then continued, his voice full of emotion, "Tara's another woman I find beautiful, and so's Alex. Bonnie, for the longest time, was way, way ugly, but after last month? She's becoming beautiful... But none of 'em are truly beautiful, like KP..."

Ron sighed, glancing back at Kim and smiling at her, "After the whole Miss Go thing, I didn't know what to think... And after our graduation, I thought you were pretty damn cool." Shego blushed lightly, but Ron continued without a break, still looking at Kim, "After the last few days, I can see that you _are_ beautiful." He turned his gaze back to her, squeezing her hands in his, before taking a breath and saying, "_Truly_ beautiful, like I think Kim is."

"Wha-..." Shego blinked, glancing worriedly at Kim, who still wore that same, caring smile.

"He's right, Shego..." Kim showed no hesitation in giving a nod of agreement to back up her words. Shego looked back at Ron, confusion on her face.

"You're the first woman after KP that I've ever thought was worthy of that, Shego." Ron said, squeezing her hand again, "I'm honored, and privileged, to call you my friend. I'm... Glad that things worked out the way they did on the roof the other day."

"I..." Shego whispered, looking at Kim again, and earning another nod of agreement from her.

"We'll be here for you, Shego." Kim said, as if speaking without putting thought to her words, letting them flow from her heart, "I promise... No matter what, we'll have your back..."

"I..." Shego's vision blurred as tears welled up in her eyes, and she whispered back, "Same to you, guys... Th-thank you..." She blinked rapidly, hoping to keep the tears from falling. After a long moment she succeeded, and with a deep breath, she finished what she'd been saying, "As to what happened... Harley was still alive when they got to him..." She swallowed, "Harry said that... Apparently, _Harry's_ CO, Lieutenant Colonel Markham, was with them when they got to Harley... Harley told them, no matter what, to make sure I got the things in this duffel... And when Colonel Markham said he was putting Harley in for a CMH, Harley denied it..."

Shego sighed, running her free hand reverently over the Distinguished Service Cross, a sad smile upon her face, "He didn't think he deserved it..." She swallowed, taking another shuddering breath, "Harley told Harry to tell me that he loved me, and to make sure I got a letter he had in his ammo pouch... He died before they got halfway back..."

The hand on her shoulder and the hands holding hers squeezed again. She took several moments to take in the warmth, before gently pulling her hand free from Ron's and standing slowly, then went about gathering up the effects Harlan had left to her. She carefully put them back in the duffel bag, saving the blood stained letter for last. She knew she should wait - that she _had_ to wait - for later if she wanted what was left of her pride to stay intact. _I _can't_ do this now..._ she yelled at herself in her own mind, _I can't ask them to see me break down, like I did at Harry's when I read Matilda's letter... I _can't_ ask them so much more than they've_ already _given..._

Yet she found herself opening it, taking great care with the blood stained corner. Then she was reading it; a simple letter, with simple words, all for her. A promise that he didn't blame her for what happened with the baby, that he understood that life happens. Words of love, of caring, and a promise that, when he was done with his current missions, he'd get leave, get back to her. Then, with no other family from either side around, they'd sit down and have a nice, long chat about what had happened. What may, and hopefully would, happen in the future. He said, if she'd have him back after the talk, that he didn't want them to stop trying with Samantha, and he wanted to have the little girl they'd never had a chance to hold... And that he wanted her to have at least a little brother to protect...

It was a promise, seeming to have been sealed in his own blood. A promise to her that he'd never had a chance to make, or keep.

Her vision blurred again. She didn't fight it this time. Didn't protest to herself, nor hesitate to let the tears fall. Didn't fight it as her body seemed to crumple in on itself as she hugged the letter to her chest. Didn't fight the wordless wail that swept from the depths of her soul, bearing grief that she'd held in for over half a decade.

She didn't protest - couldn't bring herself to protest - when two sets of arms gently guided her over to the couch, where she let her legs collapse from under her. Neither did she protest as those same two sets of arms wrapped around her and held her as she unleashed her agony in immense, body wracking sobs...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Ron carefully stirred a vinaigrette sauce into the reduced sugar and blackberry sauce he'd made. He was cooking for Rufus, Kim, Shego, and himself in _Das Himmelsicht_'s kitchen. He smiled as the sauces mingled perfectly, glancing over at Executive Chef Ajaya Kaufer, the half German, half Indian co-owner of _Das Himmelsicht_. She nodded in professional appreciation of his deft touch and perfect timing, leaning close to her husband and head sous chef as they gave an appreciative chuckle at Ron's love of cooking.

Ron had come up with the idea of getting Chef Ajaya's _spätzle_ recipe, and learning how she cooked fish so delicately not long after Shego had cried herself to sleep. Kim, who had blushingly become Shego's living pillow, had soon joined her, the tears she and Ronald had shed at seeing their new best friend in such agony having tired her out as well. Ron had told her his plan, and she'd smilingly nodded when he'd asked if it was alright. Soon after, he and Rufus had gone off to the hotel's _Klubhaus_ room to speak to the concierge, and asked if he could speak to the restaurant's chef.

Ron had been informed she'd be a few hours, so he'd gone back to the room to watch some TV. He'd enjoyed watching the love of his life as she alternated between bouts of wakefulness where she'd alternate passing interest in the TV, and intense interest in the beautiful woman using her belly as a pillow. It was... Cute, was the only way he could think to describe it. They looked so comfortable together that he felt a mix of jealousy of Kim being in her position and Shego for being where she was... But also a badical dose of pride at his fiancée for being so caring, and that he was able to let her care so much.

About an hour after that, he'd been contacted by Wade, about a call from no less personages than Will Du of Global Justice. He'd been annoyed, but gone into the bedroom to take the call. He'd listened, shocked to hear Will not only talking like a regular person, but after mentioning Shego and Kim being asleep, he'd been quite embarrassed, and had fallen into a comforting southern drawl.

They'd spoken for almost ten minutes, and Will had explained the situation, and how it related to both Kim and Shego. He'd given no promises, beyond saying he'd talk to the ladies. Will had accepted that, and reminded Ron that they'd be compensated, and Ron had accepted Will's promise in return to wait for them to call him back.

Then, almost three and a half hours later, the blond had been surprised to find out that Chef Ajaya was a huge fan of Team Possible's. She'd jumped at the chance to teach him how to make her prized _spätzle_ and how to get fish so perfect, in return for a few family recipes he'd perfected. She was, it turned out, a bigger fan of the Naco than Team Possible, and had shrewdly guessed that the inventor of the Naco would indeed have good recipes to trade.

Ron had shown Chef Ajaya how to make the fluffy matzah balls that the entire synagogue back in Middleton loved, as well as his own Southwest blended fried food crust mix, and giving her carte blanche to use them in the restaurant - to which she assured him he'd have mention in the menu - she'd shown him her secrets. She'd even offered to let him take the recipe for the _spätzle_ home to his boss and let him use it in the restaurant he worked at... Provided she got credit, which Ron assured her she would.

And then he'd asked it it'd be too much to ask if he could make some stuff up for himself, Rufus, Kim and Shego. Chef Ajaya had looked at him as if he'd grown two heads, and told him that she'd be honored for him to use her kitchen! The two chefs then turned their attention to the side of the cook's line they were using, as an order came up, despite the relatively late hour of nine-fifteen P.M.

"Wha'd'ya think, Rufus?" Ron asked of his naked mole rat kitchen partner, raising an eyebrow as he poured the vinaigrette into a square, shallow, 'one third' steam table pan. He glanced across the line where Rufus was in the middle of chopping Roma tomatoes for pico del gallo.

"Hernk?" Rufus boggled at him, and Ron chuckled, a slightly chagrined smile on his face.

"About... About what happened before we came here..." Ron frowned down at the sauce in front of him, "Did... Did I sound... Cold? Indifferent to Shay?"

"No." Rufus squeaked firmly, drawing Ron's attention to him, "You're not good at dealing with that stuff. You gave Kim and Shego both a place to center on. A rock to hold, if that makes sense?"

"I guess..." Ron said, worry still clouding his eyes. After a moment, he sighed, a slight smile on his face, "Okay, if you think that was fine, I'll believe ya... How about..." Ron paused, then chuckled slightly, an almost shy look on his face, "What about the scene when we left the room?" Rufus pondered it for a long moment, his whiskers seeming to twitch in concentration.

Inside, Rufus smirked, the twitching of his whiskers an attempt to keep the smile from his face. After a moment, the clothing challenged rat had his control back and shrugged his little shoulders, chittering at Ron, "I dunno? They seemed comfortable, and Kim was doing a lot of thinking."

"Yeah..." Ron smiled softly, tossing three salt, pepper and cayenne crusted, boneless, skinless chicken breasts on the grill, spritzing them with lemon from a sprayer on the cook's line. "They looked so _cute_ like that!" Ron thought about what had happened, pursing his lips, "Y'know, I meant what I said, right? About Shego bein' as beautiful as KP, y'know?"

"Uh-huh, yup!" Rufus nodded with a strange grin on his face, and Ron shook his head at his little friend.

"Two hot women in my hotel room, one of them my fiancée, the other laying on my fiancée's lap, and I'm concentrating on how cute they looked together..." Ron chuckled, shaking his head, "Am I weird, or what?" Ron's question was light, but there was a note of seriousness to it. Despite this, Rufus managed an almost human sounding guffaw that, strangely, relieved some of Ron's worry.

"Yes!" Ron made a face as if wounded, and Rufus barked another laugh, "But your Lady likes your brand of weird! And I think Sheegs does too..."

"Wha-..." Ron began, before the mushrooms, onions and green bell peppers on the flat top stove drew his attention. After mixing, flipping and moving them to a cooler area of the grill, he glanced back at Rufus with a quizzical expression, "Anyway, if KP and I weren't engaged, maybe, y'know, KP'd think about... I mean, d'you think Shego'd go for KP, maybe vice versa?"

Rufus favored him with a dour expression, before blowing a raspberry, squeaking and chittering at his human, "D'know 'nuff about human sexuality." Rufus chirped innocently enough that Ron cocked his head doubtfully, before reaching out to flip the chicken as the edges pulled up nicely from the grill. Rufus, knowing his human was distracted for the moment, continued, "Besides, if Shego likes your Lady, she probably likes you too."

Rufus continued to ignore Ron's doubtful gaze, and went about stirring together the diced tomatoes and onions, cilantro, lime, vinegar, salt and pepper, before glancing back at Ron, "You know Kim would never hurt you, and I'm sure Shego wouldn't, either! And you wouldn't hurt them, right?" Ron nodded with a smile, and his little buddy snerked at the goofy expression, "But... Neither would Kim lie to you. Just watch 'em when we get back, but don't be dumb. And if something's up, talk to them both, right?"

"I know..." Ron chuckled, "I remember what you and Triple-S drilled into me..." Ron said, sighing slightly, "I just... I don't wanna read the signs wrong..." Ron smirked at Rufus, who had rolled his eyes, "Seriously, dude, remember, Tara wanted to get with me for years, and I didn-..."

"Uh, uh!" Rufus squeaked at him, leveling a firm, almost angry gaze at his human, "You said what that was about! You were hoping for Kim, and _ignoring_ Tar-Tar's advances! And you said that you thought your Lady was starting to expa-..."

"Okay, okay..." Ron held up his hands defensively, "You got a point, dude... Several, actually, but... But what if I'm wrong? I mean... I don't wanna say something that'll hurt or piss KP off enough to break up with me... The way she's been, she might misunderstand, or..."

"Ron..." Rufus said, "Like Sensei said: 'Don't overthink, Stoppable-sama.' You know what happens when you both overthink things! Just let things go where they will go."

"BNHQ." Ron stated, smiling slightly as Rufus nodded, "Y'know, I've done that like... Four times this vacation?"

Rufus nodded, giving him a huge, toothy grin, then held up a bowl full of perfectly prepared pico de gallo. "Don' worry so much, Ron. Whatever happens, it will work out, right?"

"I hope so, Buddy..." Ron said in a surprisingly mature tone, a half pensive, half hopeful look on his face, "I love KP, dude, and I don't wanna lose her... But I don't want to see her hurtign, either, right?" Rufus nodded, looking at him expectantly as if he knew there was more, "And... And since she's become our friend, not just KP's, but mine and yours, too... I don't want to see Shay hurting anymore, either... I want 'em _both_ to be happy, y'know?" There was more to his words than just that, but Rufus didn't push. He was sure his human knew this as well, but was still coming to grips with it, and would do so soon, one way or the other...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Slowly, ever so slowly, consciousness returned to the pale beauty. The first thing she felt was a flash of emotions; raw, untamed, yet somehow lacking the devastating weight they'd held before she'd fallen asleep. Beyond the emotional assault, there were the vaguely formless yet comforting dreams she had been swimming through. She'd been drawn from the comfort of her dream filled sleep by the wondrous aroma of fresh food wafting through the suite. She almost flinched when she felt a hand moving some hair from her face. That same hand gingerly moved the hair behind the curve of her ear, before running along her jawline to her cheek, then back to gently run through the hair behind her ear.

Shego gently pushed her head into the feather light pressure, letting out a purr of pleasure at the action. She wasn't sure if it was real, or imagined, when she heard the faintest whisper of "Such a kitten..." Part of her wanted to wake fully, to see if she'd heard correctly, but the hand continuing the gentle ministrations nearly lulled her back to sleep.

When that hand finally stopped its movement and settled gently on her shoulder, she let out a faint whimper of disappointment. When two strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and gave her a light, reassuring squeeze, she relaxed more than she already had been, moving her hands out from under her head and wrapping them around the warm, comforting pillow beneath her even as she snuggled into it. A soft, warm pillow that moved as if trying to make the pale woman and someone else more comfortable at the same time.

The giggle that followed Shego's action broke through to her sleep fogged mind, dragging her into more than a basic state of wakefulness, her eyes flying open and her ears straining for the faintest sound. She realized by pure feel that her shoulders and chest rested comfortably between two muscular legs, and saw that she had been nuzzling her face into a firmly toned, and very feminine, abdomen. An abdomen that her nose and hair must have just tickled, if the strangely delighted giggle was any indication. She heard the sounds of plates being placed on the suite's table, Ron's voice murmuring softly to Rufus, and the slow, steady breathing of who could only be Kim Possible beneath her.

The first sight she made sense of was Kim's belly button. She stared at it for several seconds, fighting the almost overwhelming urge to kiss the cutely sexy body part. Then she followed the soft, yet noticeable lines of the red-head's abdominal muscles up to her small, but shapely bosom, where her sight again paused. The red-head still wore her slacks, but the purple blouse she'd worn was gone, and her creamy, peach toned skin was glistening slightly with sweat. Shego blinked, and wanted to slap herself when she thought of why the younger woman was shirtless: the former thief threw off a lot of body heat, and the hotel room was quite warm.

Blinking away the thoughts, she moved her gaze upwards again, hoping the pause hadn't been awkward for Kim. Her eyes swept up past the graceful curve of the red-head's neck, past the pert, full mouth and cute nose to finally rest at the younger woman's piercing eyes. Even as her hair fell over one eye, half obscuring her vision, the former thief stared into the depths of Kim's eyes, so much like polished malachite, seeing a mix of emotions that made the security consultant's mouth go dry.

Sympathy and grief were there, emotions Shego knew were directed at her, but those emotions were secondary at best. There was amusement and fondness, caring, and a few emotions so vague that the pale beauty didn't want to put thought to them, but to noticeable to ignore. _No way..._ she thought as she stared for another long moment, _She can't feel that wa-..._

"Hey there, Shay..." Kim smiled at her, her hand again stroking Shego's hair from her face. The older woman's thoughts stopped suddenly at the action and the soft tone, spoken in the same manner of one afraid of scaring off a wild animal. Shego felt a tingle run down her spine at the use of her _real_ name, which seemed to come so easily to the red-head, despite still having such trouble using Drew and other former villain's real names after four months.

"Hey, Princess..." Shego smiled up at her rather than concentrating on such a seemingly silly observation. Instead, she worried - albeit briefly - about the fact that while she felt her grief, it was not the piercing, soul searing agony she had earlier. But the worry faded as she felt something flowing through her in relation to Kim and Ron. _I feel..._ she again groped for the right word in her mind, and then it struck her without warning, _I feel _safe_!_

The revelation shocked her deeply, and she fought herself as she realized she wanted to stiffen in nearly instinctual dispute of that emotion. The only person who had ever made her feel safe was Harley! And he was long dead... Kim's hand stopped its gentle stroking to rest on her cheek, again bringing Shego's attention to the present.

The pale woman focused on the red-head's eyes again, seeing the sudden worry, the compassion, the caring and, ultimately, the _trust_ there. She knew at that moment she could not deny her own mental assertion; it wouldn't be fair to her, nor would it be fair to Kim and Ron. She blinked, changing the slight stiffening into a stretch that turned out to be quite welcome and looked around, seeing that it was dark outside. "What time is it?"

"Just a little before ten..." Kim murmured, her hand still gently resting on Shego's cheek, the sensation seeming to offer both women comfort.

After a moment, Shego's eyes widened and she pulled away from Kim somewhat, staring up at the red-head in a serious manner. "Kimmie, you guys didn't stay here all day did you?" her tone held on a note of protest and worry as the younger woman nodded with eyes crinkled slightly in amusement, "Did you go to the 'Fest at all?"

"Nope..." Kim's smile, if anything, got bigger at the admission.

"But..." Shego began, but Kim's free hand came up to place an insistent finger against the pale woman's lips.

"It's fine..." Kim assured her, "You fell asleep, and we thought that you might need us, so we stayed..."

"But I..." Shego began, unaccountably embarrassed by her reaction to the teens' gesture. Finally, she swallowed against the lump in her throat, a mix of her earlier emotions and new emotions boiling in a confused morass with the last dregs of her own pride, and whispered, "Thanks..."

Kim laughed lightly, her hand once again stroking along Shego's cheek, but her face took on a more serious, concerned set, "It's what friends do, Shay..." Shego thought about saying something, but the red-head leaned forward, the fall of crimson hair blocking Shego's vision out the window, before bending down to place a feather light kiss to Shego's forehead, "You still look tired, Shay... You're probably gonna need some more rest..."

"As comfortable as this is..." Shego let a light smirk cross her features as she stared up into Kim's twinkling eyes, saying in a slightly stronger tone than she'd been using, "I think I'll take some of whatever smells so amazing, first..."

"Whatever you need, Shay..." Kim's soft declaration carried a note of promise, but before Shego could comment on it, the red-head was looking over the back of the couch to the table, "Ron kinda convinced the restaurant's chef to let him cook up our meals, so it's all Ron's cooking..."

"Sounds badical, as our favorite Doofus would say..." Shego quipped, slowly levering herself up from between Kim's legs to sit. After a moment, she turned her face down, to where her hands were folded in her lap, "Kimmie... Thanks... Again, to both of you..."

Kim reached out and cupped Shego's cheek, "Like I said, it's what friends do..." The red-head smirked slightly, "Besides, we can pick everything back up tomorrow..." She reached out and gave the security consultant's folded hands a reassuring pat, before she added, "Promise..."

**Author's Notes**

And another chapter down...! A little bigger than I'd originally had written up, but, I hope, better chapter overall... A rather heavy, emotional chapter at that, but with a few bright spots! ^_^ Poor Shego, though... A surprise visit by her almost uncle, and then receiving her late love's effects, a few not-so-subtle reminders of what she's lost... Yet, she has her friends, and perhaps the spark of something more...

Then there's The Upperclassmen, who can't seem to catch a break! But... At least this time they have a plan, and no unintentional interference from misinformed special operations goons!

And... Wait, Motor Ed? And he has a woman, long term? What's happening, seriously?

Then we have Ron, going through some kind of existential crisis, and Rufus, pushing some agenda all his own... Could be trouble, for more than just Ron!

Finally, a tender moment between Kim and Shego... I hope I didn't overdo it, but I couldn't help but agree with Ron: the scene just seems so _cute_... ^_^

Anyway, as always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work. As well, remember everyone, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember: if ya like a fic, give the author a review!


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Forward**

First off, my apologies for taking so long with this, but real life and its obligations kinda kicked me in the rear end this month! And, just as a fair warning, there's going to be some - in my opinion very mild, and well within the "T" rating - mature subject matter in this chapter. Nothing too over the top, just some general (and one fairly blunt) references to sexual acts, but they're gonna be here, nonetheless!

And now... The review responses!

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations.

Jimmy1201: thanks for the review and the kind words! I'm glad to hear from more than Neo (my flow/feel beta, of course) that I'm doin' good on the back story and the characterizations. And I rather liked the scene between Shego and Rufus, myself... ^_^

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

_This is nice…_ Rufus thought with a lazy smile on his face, dancing to the rather kitschy music in the_ Käfer's Wies'n-Schänke_ tent. Not that it was necessarily bad, as it was played with a good deal of competence, but its style was intentionally cheesy. Of course, it didn't matter to Rufus; he was quite beyond tipsy, and well into the realm of truly drunk. He might have felt embarrassed that it was only 8:30 p.m., but he didn't care; it was Oktoberfest, after all, and there were people _far_ drunker than him out and about!

He hadn't planned on getting that drunk, but he'd had an interesting Thursday. They'd been up until just after 1 a.m. following Shay's near break down, having decided to enjoying a cable rerun of Die Hard. He'd woken up at around three to hear Shay, as Ron, Kim and rufus all called Shego in private, sniffling in her room, and seeing the door was half open, had gone to see if she was okay. She'd been re-reading the letter from Harley, but had, paradoxically, a happy smile upon her face. She'd assured him she was fine, but had asked if he still had his stash. Rufus had smiled and nodded, and after sharing a joint, again at the top of the hotel's restaurant, they'd gone back to the room for an apparently soothing sleep.

The morning had been somewhat hectic, as Shay had wanted to watch Harold Little Coyote's fourth _dan_ test. It had apparently gone without a hitch, and the two of them had spent a couple hours before the 'Fest talking and enjoying each other's company. Rufus had been with Kim and Ron, touring the sights around Munich's _Marienplatz_, including watching the _Rathaus-Glockenspiel_'s 11 a.m. performance.

When they'd gotten back together with Shay, they'd hit the fest as they had every day, enjoying food, beer, and when the drizzly rain permitted, the rides and other, more outdoors attractions. Of course, as smoothly as the day had gone, Rufus knew something bad was going to happen. He just hadn't expected it to happen to _him_! Worse, for Rufus, was that he proved even _he_ had a cheese limit. But he had an excuse: the cheese at the _Feisingers Ka's und Weinstubn_ tent was just so good! And… He'd eaten himself to the point of feeling sick enough to refuse cheese.

He'd been better within an hour or so, but until he was, he'd felt miserable. But, despite even that, they'd all had a blast! And now they were in what was considered the celebrity destination du jour, enjoying food every bit as good - if a lot more expensive - as that served at Hausmann Suite's restaurant, _Das Himmelsicht_.

"Oh, 'e izh zo _cute_, non?" a woman sitting at their table, an apparently popular European model from Paris known only as Nicolette, said to one of Team Possible and Shay's other tablemates, the evening manager from the hotel that Shay had originally been staying at. The model was apparently staying at that very hotel, and had insisted the petite blonde manager accompany her to the tent after her shift. The blonde in question blushed as the model placed a comfortable hand on her forearm, as if urging her to relax.

Both women were quite attractive, if the reactions of several men and women from the tent - not to mention Ron, Shay and even Kim's - reactions were any indication. Rufus knew, intellectually, that they had features that other humans found attractive, but it was nice to see his suppositions confirmed. If he was right, and based on how the manager, Estelle, reacted by relaxing under the gentle hand and comforting gaze of Nicolette, they were either lovers, or in the act of mutual courting.

Of course, both women were dressed up quite provocatively. They wore traditional style _dirndl_, Estelle's having a red bodice and dress, deep forest green apron, and white blouse. It was tailored to show off her trim, svelte shoulders, slim waist and hips, and long legs. Nicolette wore one with a blue bodice and blouse, with the same color apron as Estelle and a soft lavender blouse. Hers showed off the wide flare of her hips, and the low cut of the dirndl allowed a very copious view of her large, round breasts. She was a red-head, with striking brown eyes, narrow, almost equine nose, and thin yet expressive lips, which were perked in a drunken smile.

"Ja, he is…" The manager was almost as tipsy as Rufus, but her English was, ironically, clearer than her German in her current state. She was also quite flirty, if the blushes that both Shay and Kim had sported several times in the last hour were any indication. "So are his companions, even Ronald has a way about him…"

"Ah, but of course, 'e must be quite zee catch vor an avowed lesbian such as hyu to find 'im attractive, my dear Estelle…" Nicolette's tone was as subtle as her words, and despite the blush crossing Estelle's face, she seemed delighted when the Frenchwoman put an arm around her and pulled her close in a more than comradely fashion. "I, having less, 'ow you zay, inhibitions?" At the trim blonde's nod, Nicoette continued, "When it comes to zee men and women, will freely admit that 'e is _very_ attractiff."

"Do I have anything to worry about?" Estelle asked with a semi-serious, semi-joking manner, and Nicolette laughed brightly.

"No, I am zee paragon of a one partner woman." Nicolette chuckled, leaning in to whisper to lover, "Alzhough, I think zat zere might be some… Interest between zee sthree of zhem…" She indicated Shay, who was standing a short distance from the table talking to a waitress, and then to the more distant Ron and Kim, who were over giving out and receiving autographs from mutual celebrities. "Zee how Shego sometimes looks to Kimberly with zee eyes like hyou give me? With zee physical and zee emotional attraction?"

"It is hard _not _to notice the looks. I am almost wondering if she wants to be caught looking," Estelle responded, and Rufus did his best to listen in unobtrusively. He had hoped he was reading certain signs correctly, but had been uncertain.

He was pleased to note he had, as the red-headed model continued, "And zhen, look at 'ow she looks to Ronald. She has almost zee same look, but 'er eyes are more guarded, as if unsure? As if…" Nicolette held a hand up and waved it in a circular fashion, as if searching for the right words, "As if she is unsure if it is just zee physical or just zee emotional?"

"_Ja_, _ja_…" Estelle admitted, cocking her head slightly, "She is more easily flirty with women, I have seen."

"Yes, zshe is!" Nicolette said brightly, taking a large swig from her _Maß_ of beer, "Now, look at Kimberly... Hyou can see 'ow, when she looks back, and when she sees Shego, 'ow she smiles? She is like a school girl falling in love. And with Ronald, hyou notice 'ow 'e sees Kimberly and Shego in such similar ways?"

"But..." Estelle screwed her face up in concentration, "He seems to see all the pretty ladies..."

"But of course," Nicolette purred, "As do I, non?" She pointed at Ron with the arm that was around Estelle's back with that hand on Estelle's shoulder, so it was mostly hidden, "But, look at _'ow_ he's looking... Zee almost... Ahm, protective way that 'e 'olds 'imself in relation to Kimberly, and even towards Shego..."

"I..." Estelle said, and Rufus turned slightly to look at her as she studied his friends, "I see what you mean, I think? How he seems ready to jump to be at either of their sides?"

"Yes, and Shego seems zo willing to accept it..." Nicolette sighed dreamily, looking at the three of them in turn, "Such possible romance, it is zo delightful, non?" The two women watched Kim all but bouncing up and down as she received an autograph from a woman who had just received hers. Then Kim turned to make sure that Ron had an autograph as well, and Nicolette tittered at Ron's affably oblivious manner, "Zhey would be so cute togezher… And he would be such a perfect match for zhem!"

"Maybe… I would like to see the two women together if nothing else. It would be... Adorable? Though Kimberly seems to have such _strong_ feelings for Ronald, I feel that Ronald is romantic enough to let it flourish and be a friend to her, if something happens. So, I can't see them as open to love, or even sex, as you hope everyone is, Nicolette..." Estelle paused as Nicolette chuckled with a rueful nod, contemplating how she wanted to speak her next thoughts. She pursed her lips, then shrugged slightly, her voice a tad louder than she'd intended while staring at Ron, "He seems to be quite the worthwhile man, at least…"

"If the way Princess there dotes over him is any indication, Esty?" Shay interjected with only slightly slurred speech, glancing from Estelle to where Ron was standing, "Ron is…"

"I am sure zshe is not zee only one zat notices, _mon ami_…" Nicolette whispered. When Shay glanced back and raised a questioning eyebrow, Nicolette changed her statement with a winning smile, "I zaid zat I am zstill zhocked to zee Team Possible 'ere, but it iz good to know zat zhey are willing to relax. It would be bad if zhey, 'ow hyou say… Burn out?"

"Yeah…" Shay said, reaching down to snag the shot glass of beer Rufus was lifting from his hands. Rufus looked at her and chattered in a somewhat cross fashion, and she chuckled down at him, "As sick as ya were earlier, Bud, I don' wanna see ya gettin' too toasty, right?"

Rufus was about to nod in agreement, when a dull witted voice with a New Jersey accent called out from close behind him, "Ohmigod, man! What _ish_ dat thing, ish dat even, like, legal an' shtuff?" Rufus turned around and was confronted by a tall, very muscular man wearing jeans and a 'wife beater' style shirt. He had vaguely Italian features, short, frosted, close cropped hair held straight up by mousse, gold chains around his neck, and an orange color to his skin that screamed 'fake tan'.

"It's Rufus," Shay said in an unreadable tone, "You know, th' naked mole rat fr'm Team Possible?"

"No shit?" the man muttered, confusion visible on his face.

"Yeah, they save th' world on a regular basis, doy!" Shay's eyes narrowed, and Rufus' instincts were screaming at him that trouble was brewing.

"I tol' ya, Jeffy," one of his friends, a similarly dressed man that was shorter, but had even larger muscles, said, slapping his friend on the chest and trying to pull him away from the table. He seemed to be more sober than his friend, and as he glanced at Shay, he shrank back slightly from something he saw in her eyes. "C'mon, man, there's some gals that were really inta us over here…"

"Hey, I'm Jeffery, but my friends 'n' hotties can call me Jeffy…" the musclehead said in what he seemed to think was a winning tone, pulling away from his friend, "I'm kinda famous, y'know? Any'a ya ladi'sh wanna go get shome _real_ action?"

"Jeffery…" Shay mulled the name over in her head, distaste crawling across her face when she made the connection, "From tha' intellectual wasteland, 'The Shore Boyz', right?"

"Dat's it, shexy…" the man waggled his eyebrows, not seeming to realize she'd insulted him. Then, despite having no invitation, he sat down next to Nicolette, who squeaked and shoved as close to Estelle as she could. "Oh, shit, are you two dykes 'r somethin'?" When Estelle bristled at the word, Jeffery continued in a faux sincere tone, "I'm sorry if ya are, I know you types don' like real men hittin' on ya."

"Watch yer goddamn mouth, boy…" Shay growled, a brief flash of plasma wreathing her free hand, albeit briefly. Estelle and Nicolette were seemingly forgotten by the musclehead as he stared blatantly up and down Shay's athletic frame, his thoughts plain as day on his face.

"Oh, holy shit, you're tha one hottie, Shegoes, right? Y'wanna go somewhere wit' me honey?"

"Jeffy, c'mon, dude!" his friend called out again, before Jeffery half shoved him away.

"Go 'way, dude, I'm workin' it, here!" he glanced back at Nicolette and Estelle, "An' get th' boys, Sam, y'know?" He waggled his eyes at Sam and the younger man glanced nervously around him at the suddenly quiet people surrounding the table.

"Right…" Sam gulped and beat a hasty retreat, hoping that, if nothing else, their friends' presence would keep things from escalating too much.

Jeffery was about to speak again when he looked past Shay to the crowd. Rufus followed his gaze and saw Kim walking up, an arm around Ron's waist, and his around her shoulders. "Oh, damn, babe! Is you here wit' tha' hottie, Kim Poshible?"

"An' Ron Stoppable…" Kim said with narrowed eyes of her own as she walked up to the table.

Rufus saw a familiar flash of emotion in her eyes when her gaze swept from the seemingly too relaxed Shay to Jeffery, a flash normally reserved to Ron. Despite his worry about potential trouble, and his beer addled brain, he felt a cheer rising up in the back of his mind. He'd seen that look before, and it boded quite well for his plans. _This is so _perfect_!_

"Dat ain' Shtoppable, I'll bet!" Jeffery dismissed Ron with the ease of the truly drunk, "I mean, you're like, way hot, an' the guy you're wit' isn' some ugly, shcrawny loser. I mean, lookit 'im, he's in shape 'n' shtuff…" The man blinked after looking Ron over, then held his hands up to his shoulders as if to ask someone to slow down, "No homo, though!"

"Ex_cuse_ me?" Kim's eyes widened in annoyance that bordered on angry and her body began to tense up as the musclebound idiot began speaking again, "Would ya mind _explainin'_ that t'me?"

"KP, calm down…" Ron started, putting a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. Kim growled, but allowed her stance to relax a bit. Ron was also glancing around the crowd, who had become tense when the man had begun his bombastic talk. Rufus noticed the crowd's dissatisfaction and the increasing aggressiveness of Jeffery, and decided that, no matter what, he'd stay close to Estelle and Nicolette. Even though he was a naked mole rat, he _was_ a hero, he _had_ gotten involved in fights with bigger, tougher looking men than Jeffery, _and_ he knew Kim, Shay and Ron could take care of themselves.

"Tha's no Shtoppable … Y'know, he'sh not as scrawny as da real one…" Kim's eyes widened in a hard buzz driven rage, the whites becoming easily visible. She put her hands down to her side, her whole body going rigid and her hands cracking loudly as she made tight fists, "An' 'sides, ev'rone knows dat th' real Shtoppable wouldn'a been able t'do dat!"

"Do what, 'xactly?" Kim glowered at the man.

"Keep a woman like you all in control 'n' shit…" Jeffery guffawed at some joke, "Da whole worl' knows he'sh got no balls, kno'wha' I'm sayin'?"

"I'd shu'dup if I were you…" Shay cooed in an almost seductive manner as Kim's entire body stiffened in rage, her eyes widening to the point that the whites were easily visible around the iris, "Princess gets _scary_ when she's mad… An' y'don't really want me _an'_ the monkey master there all pissed, either…"

_Uh, oh…_ Rufus gulped in fear. He'd only ever seen Kim this angry twice in his life: once when she'd kicked Shay into an electrical tower from atop Bueno Nacho's world headquarters, and once after her father had walked in on her getting a back massage from Ron. And he'd never heard quite such a tone from Shay, nor had he ever seen her with such a strange, rictus like smile.

"Aww, c'mon, cutie," Jeffery addressed Kim in an attempt at a sexy, low voiced tone, "Dump da scrawny dude an' come have some fun wit' a _real_ man…" He blinked when he saw the face of the blond standing behind Kim go blank, and could have sworn he saw a flash of blue light surround his eyes. Rufus knew by the brief stiffening of the man's neck, the slight, fresh sheen of sweat on his forehead, and the smell wafting suddenly off of him that Jeffery had alarm bells going off in his head. The kind that screamed at him to run and not look back; he apparently ignored them, and gave a bit of a menacing growl as he looked straight into the blond boy's eyes, "An' if ya don' like 'em like me, I'm sure som'a my boys'll show ya a good time!"

"Shut up and leave us alone." Ron said in a calm, cold manner, glancing around them as if looking for someone, "We don't want trouble, but the bouncers'll be more than happy enough to lead you out if you don't."

"Y'shee!" Jeffery crowed as if he had won the lottery, glancing over at Estelle, "If he wash really Shtoppable, he'd've done shomethin' himshelf, right?"

"Nah, we're on vacation, an' even if we weren't, tha's what they get paid t'do." Kim snapped at the musclebound man, her voice implying he was jumping up and down on her last nerve, "B'sides, even if I were th' last woman on Earth I wouldn't give you th' time of day, you steroid pumped freak!"

"Tha's no shit!" Shay agreed, glaring with open hostility at the man.

Jeffery, having imbibed enough alcohol to affect his sense of self preservation, surged to his feet. His face became flushed with anger, and he flexed his muscles threateningly. Ron took a step forward to stand directly at Kim's shoulder, and it was obvious from the look on her face and the tension in her arm that Shay barely repressed the instinct to flare up. Kim, however, stood there with a self satisfied, knowing smile and said just loud enough for the people at and directly around the table to hear her, "And m'point is made…"

Jeffery, realizing that he'd reacted in anger, forced a not very convincing laugh, bringing his arms up and flexing his biceps, kissing each in turn, "This's _au naturel_, babee!" he claimed in a bold, drawn out fashion, his voice still tense with anger, "A'course, if ya lean da way dese ladies do, an' I could see that wit' all'a the stuff ya do, I can understan' why ya might be reluctant 'n' stuff!" The man then leaned over with an earnest expression on his face and focused on Estelle, "Hey, y'know, my boys an' I can help ya wit' that..."

"Vas?" Estelle asked, cocking her head slightly in confusion, even as she and Nicolette tried to lean further away from the man, as if ready to bolt from their seats at a moment's notice. Rufus crouched slightly, prepared to jump in if needed. He caught Kim out of the corner of his eye, and was suddenly worried by what he observed: the red-head was stuck into livid speechlessness, her anger to an even higher point than what had worried him earlier.

He was certain it wasn't _just_ because she'd been dismissed in such a manner, but also due to the lascivious intent in the man's voice. An intent that crossed over well enough into Rufus' intellectual understanding of human sexuality that the little mole rat was concerned for the safety of his friends.

He knew Kim had dealt with high school boys that were too horny for their own good. He'd even been there when a college football player had, according to said football player, fondled her by mistake. But this was a completely new and, obviously, infuriating experience for the redhead. That's when the man leaned onto the table, focusing a seemingly earnest expression on Estelle, "Y'know, da pro'lem y'have wit' men?"

"I don't understand-…" Estelle began, but was interrupted by not only Nicolette's grabbing her arm in worry, but by Jeffery continuing his comment.

"Y'know," Jeffery cooed drunkenly, "I an' my boys can help ya ta do da sex da right way, y'know, wit' a man!"

"Oh, shit, Jeffy!" the musclehead's buddy, Sam, groaned as he and three other, similarly dressed, and similarly muscled, men stepped out of the darkness of the tent, "Don't say anymo-…"

Jeffery held up his hands in the 'hold up' gesture once again, seemingly ignorant of his friend's protest or the growls from Kim and Shay's throat, or the low murmur of dissatisfaction from the surrounding crowd, "Y'know, not dat dykes aren't hot goin' at each other'n'all, but, y'know, it jus' ain't natural without a man involved, y'know?" With that, he reached out and laid a hand suggestively on Nicolette's arm, which produced a response he wasn't expecting in the least.

"That _does it_!" Kim roared, leaping across the two and a half meter gap between herself and the musclehead. Shay moved at almost the same instant, to intercept two of the musclebound idiot's friends as they moved to intercept Kim.

"You four jus' stop!" Sam grabbed his other two friends, knowing who they were dealing with and tried to explain, loudly, what was going on. He glanced back at his two friends, calling out, "Vinnie, Paul, don't!"

Somehow, the musclehead managed to get a hand out in between himself and Kim. "Slow down, babe!" he called out, closing his hand around what he thought was her shoulder.

"Hntk!" Kim gasped, along with most of the crowd. Jeffery looked up and realized, to his dawning horror, that he'd grabbed the world saving red-head around the throat. He quickly let out an inarticulate scream as her hand grabbed his wrist and twisted, nearly breaking both his wrist and elbow, as well as several bones in his hand.

Shay had dodged three clumsy punches thrown by one of Jeffery's less intelligent buddies, the one named Paul. The man had overbalanced on the third punch, and she darted forward, driving a double palm strike into his midsection. She barely restrained the instinct to make the blow worse with concussive plasma; as it was, she knocked him back almost two and a half meters with the blow, despite the crowd surging towards the table and Jeffery.

His other buddy, meanwhile, had gone for Ron when the teen had begun to surge forward towards Kim and Jeffery. The blond, seeing the man, fell into a tumble that seemed almost as if he'd tripped over his own feet. He immediately twisted around on the floor, using his shoulder as a pivot point, and drove his left foot into the man's midsection, and his right into the man's jaw.

The man fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes, and Ron continued his roll and came up beside Kim, grabbing her and pulling her away with a loud, "Let him go, KP!"

Kim turned to Ron, ready to slip out of his hand if needs be, and growled, "But he was threatening Esty and Nicci!" She lowered her voice slightly and continued, "And he said that you weren't really you, an-…"

"No worries!" Ron silenced her with a quick kiss and pulled her past Jeffery to stand next to Shay, who was standing protectively between Jeffery and Estelle, Nicolette and Rufus.

"We gonna kick yo' asses!" the man that Shay had downed growled, shakily pushing himself to his feet. That's when he realized that he, Jeffery and their unconscious friend were confronting a now plasma charged Shego, as well as Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. What bothered them more, however, was the fact that they were surrounded by perhaps two dozen men and a few women, who had very, very ugly looks on their faces.

"It voult be zmart off all off you to zhtop!" a man with a thick German accent growled. Paul prided himself on being 'mostly natural', and was quite impressive looking, at one hundred and eighty three centimeters, even and an even one hundred kilograms, with very little fat. The man standing before him was almost a full head taller, and had more muscles visible through his nice dress shirt and slacks than Paul had seen in a bare chested gym. "Dze _polizei_ are on dze vay, zo zhtop und just stant dzere!"

When the man flexed and his expensive looking shirt stretched alarmingly, Paul just nodded dumbly and backed down with an audible swallow of alarm. The man bent down and picked up the still whining Jeffery, who was cradling his sprained wrist as if it were broken, and pulled him up bodily by the arm.

Rufus recognized the man as the driver of the rig from the accident the prior Saturday. He squeaked in recognition, drawing the man's attention as he all but threw Jeffery into his friend Paul, and the big man smiled and waved sheepishly. Ron recognized him as well, and smiled, calling out, "Hello, Mr. Hartmann."

"Herr Stoppable." Ferdinand said with a grin, nodding at him and his five tablemates, "Ve vill make zhure zat dzey vill no lonker bodzer you."

"Um…" Kim began, but glanced around at the surrounding crowd and let what she hoped was a thankful smile come to her face, "Thank you."

Rufus was surprised when Shay snorted, cocking her head slightly at the big rig driver, "Ferdinant Hartmann, World's Strongest Man competitor back in '01 to '04?"

"Ja." The huge man smiled at the recognition from the beautiful former thief, bowing slightly, "Und I do part time zecurity here at dze _Käfer's_ tent. I zaw most of zhis, but I vas havink trouble vith pushing my vay through dze crowdt vithout causink harm."

"Well, y'got here a tad late," Shay smiled at him, "But ya did a helluva job calmin' these morons down when ya did."

"My pleazure," the big man growled, glaring at the muscleheads as they began to act edgy, "Our apologies, laties und gentleman, ve haff dze situation unter control. Please, enjoy yourselves."

Rufus couldn't help but giggle as Jeffery and his two buddies that joined in on the attempt to harm Team Possible, Shay, Estelle and Nicolette, were arrested for their trouble. According to Shay, they'd been very lucky that they weren't thrown out as well, as there was a tendency to punish both sides of a confrontation at Oktoberfest. Rufus was just as happy they hadn't been; he enjoyed the company at the table, especially when Ferdinand brought his wife and kids over to sit with them while he went about doing his job.

The woman was charming, and the kids adorable. They seemed to quite enjoy Rufus' antics while he and Ron did their best to calm both Kim and Shay down. It was slow going at first, but in the end, with the kids' help, it worked out _quite_ well. If anyone asked the clothing challenged rat, anyway…

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

It was Friday morning, and the pale green former thief was laying out her clothing for the day. She had decided, since she has only worn the clothing for about an hour on Wednesday, that she's reprise the outfit, with the addition of the piece of Native American jewelry that had been part of Harley's effects. He _had_ purchased it for her, after all, as a peace offering if they ever got back together.

She was left with a sense of wonder once again. Had she received this even two weeks ago, she wouldn't have been able to look at the item! But now, thanks in large part to Kim and Ron's efforts to help her, she could not only look at it, but could consider wearing it with pride. A warm, unexpected flush warmed her face as she thought about that fact. _Anything's possible for a Possible is right!_ she chuckled delightedly, running her hands gently over the item, _I wonder how Kimmie and Ronnie'll react to it?_

Almost as if her thinking about them had been some cosmic signal, Ron's voice filtered in through the small crack in the pale woman's bedroom door, "Hey, KP?" Ron called out, "Did you ever check about that band Alex was askin' about?"

"_Die Scheißeköpfe_?" the older woman barely held back a snicker at hearing Kim say the name, both because of the words in the name, and the ever so improper use of German for said name filled her with an almost juvenile sense of mirth. She stepped slightly closer to the door, feeling that listening in might just be important. "Yeah, I checked their website... No shows 'til mid-October at the earliest."

Kim's tone was somewhat dejected, and an idea came to the pale woman about how she might be able to repay the red-head and her fiancé's kindness, _Well, if Sarah still runs _Liebe-Hass-Liebe_, that is..._

The older woman felt a spring coming to her step as a plan began to form in her head, which stopped cold when Kim's suddenly annoyed, almost angry voice rang out, "What the hell are you wearing that old mess for, Ron?"

_Then again,_ she thought, glancing through the crack and seeing Ron dressed in a familiar old pair of khakis and loose, red jersey, _I might be stepping in to repay their kindness sooner than I thought!_

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"I can't believe that the rain got worse today." Kim half pouted, looking out the front window of the small, chic iced custard store within walking distance of the _Theresienwiese_, "I mean, rain on a Friday during the 'Fest is _so_ unfair..."

"Yeah, but at least it's too early for snow..." Shay laughed in slightly contrary agreement, looking around the shop instead of out into the dreary, rainy, positively chilly morning. Ron looked around as well, somewhat surprised at the mixed clientele; men and women in several thousand dollar business suits mingled with vacationers like them here for Oktoberfest, and locals dressed in a mix of morning jogging clothes and casual, if warm, outfits.

The iced custard parlor, with it's mix of modern art and retro advertisement reproductions, could have been a disaster, but the interior layout pulled together beautifully. It was just over six meters wide, and about fifteen meters from entrance to the open kitchen and prep areas, with an open, four meter high ceiling. The cashier and order taker was stationed near the front entrance, a line of refrigerated iced custard cabinets about two thirds of the way to the kitchen, and soft serve machines making up the rest.

Even as chill as the day was, the place was busy, and Ron smiled as prep workers busily went about making fruit sauces to mix into the thick, iced custard the shop specialized in. He almost envied them, as the work looked incredibly fun. "So decided yet, KP?"

"Yeah, a pistachio double cone." The cherubic smile on her face was the picture of innocence, and despite himself, Ron raised a questioning eyebrow. Kim shrugged at him, her smile and guileless eyes still unchanged, and Ron accepted it. Though it was a somewhat grudging acceptance; ever since Wednesday night when Shay had broken down, there was an undeniable tension in the air, especially between the two women.

Ron wasn't jealous, which somewhat surprised him, especially when he thought back to when Shay had been 'Miss Go'... He'd even smiled indulgently when Kim had kissed Shay's forehead in reassurance Wednesday night, and held her for several more moments before they'd gotten up to eat a late dinner. Nonetheless, he had to wonder where, exactly, all that tension was leading.

He did know one thing: that very tension was working out to make the day more interesting than Thursday, despite the near bar brawl that they'd almost gotten in with the Shore Boyz goons! And while it had been rather cool outside the prior day, it hadn't been chilly, and the rain had been thankfully much lighter. Today, as Kim had observed, was far different. Even so, the day was starting out badically! _Well,_ Ron conceded to himself, _If you don't count that stupid argument KP and I got into over clothes…_

Ron glanced over at Kim, thankful that Shay had jumped in early in the argument with some suggestions. The red-head looked dead sexy wearing a casual pair of nicely fitted, tight black slacks and one of Ron's pale green dress shirts. On her feet she wore her usual hiking shoe styled steel toed boots, but had taken the older woman's suggestion of getting them shined, making them look more like comfortable dress shoes than boots. Somehow, though, it was all pulled together by the hair, which Shay had helped put into a loose braid. Kim had chosen to let the braid flow over her left shoulder, and the look somehow made the clothing ensemble look powerful, yet feminine.

The older woman had then suggested Ron go with a similar clothing style, and had managed it almost as effectively as Monique would have. For him, she'd chosen looser fitting, light granite slacks and a stylishly loose, white dress shirt that had fine, pale blue pin stripes. He'd chosen, to Shay's apparent relief, a sharp pair of loafers that he'd taken to wearing, from a manufacturer that Triple-S had suggested; he was still shocked how comfortable the dressy shoes were. The woman had also, somehow, managed to tame his cowlick and get it to hang to the right slightly, almost stylishly, and all without Le Goop!

Shay had gone with a simpler, yet just as attractive route that seemed to flow together with her friends' outfits. Similar to what she'd planned to wear two days earlier and Ron had to admit that she looked every bit as sexy as Kim. The black hip hugger style jeans were tight enough to show off her toned legs and rear end, yet not so tight as to appear trashy. Those very assets were accentuated by the mid heeled, fashionable looking black leather, mid calf, high fashion style boots she wore. Her cobalt blue, tight knit sweater was form fitting, and the moderately low V-neck gave the most enticing hint of cleavage.

Now, however, she wore a beautiful piece of Native American jewelry: a leather, bone, hematite and turquoise choker. The choker was about two and a half centimeters wide, and there were five rows of fine bones, each about a centimeter and a half long. Between each length of bone was a cylindrical bead of polished black hematite, flanked by thinner pale blue disks of turquoise the same diameter. At the front of the choker was a medallion of turquoise the color of the disks, with nary an imperfection on it, surrounded and held in place by a band of hematite.

It could have been gaudy, but ended up tying the deep cobalt blue of her sweater with her pale skin and the clear green of her eyes better than the garment had by itself. It also had a tendency to draw the eye to the graceful curve of her neck, up to her eyes and then back down her torso. More than a few times, Ron had found himself tracing that very route, and somehow hadn't been surprised to see Kim doing the same.

"What?" Ron asked, seeing that Kim had prodded him with a question.

"I asked you a question, Ronnie!" The red-head rolled her eyes and shook her head fondly, "What are you getting?"

"Black Forest Cherry, soft serve..." Ron admitted, before glancing at Shay.

"Peach soft serve!" the pale woman chirped happily, before glancing at Rufus, who was still suffering a slight hangover.

"Am're'to..." Rufus decided after a moment of contemplation, "Waf'l' bowl!"

"I see he still has booze on the brain." Shay smirked, before nudging Ron forward, "So what do you guys want to do today?"

"Well, some more time at the 'Fest, obviously..." Kim said with a sigh, a strange look briefly crossing her face as Ron placed all of their orders and paid for them, despite Shay's silent glower at his chivalry. Ron shrugged and Kim shook her head, smiling at him, "I had hoped to go see a punk band for a friend of ours back home, _Die Scheißeköpfe_, but that's probably a no go... I'd like to see a few more museums before Sunday, though!"

"What's Sunday?" Shay asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

"We were thinking of heading out for more of our vacation then..." Ron said with a slightly worried expression, "But we've also been thinking about staying a few more days, too..."

"Oh?" Shego asked as they picked up their cones, trying to swallow unobtrusively. _You two better not be thinkin' about delaying _your_ vacation 'cause of me!_

"Honestly?" Kim said softly as they took their seats in a corner of the parlor with three seats, her voice tinged slightly with nervousness, "Well... Kinda 'cause we like it here, but, um... We've really loved hanging out with you, and..." She paused when she saw Shay open her mouth with a troubled expression, glancing at Ron. Her fiancé smiled and completed her thought, just beating Shego to the punch.

"We wanna keep hanging out with you, Shay..." Shay glanced about, and seeing no one nearby, relaxed, as Ron's voice had been low enough not to draw attention. "I mean... You're awesome, you've become a badical friend, and we were thinking about askin', if ya didn't have anything to do, or something... Um, if ya maybe... Wanted to come with us?" The older woman blinked in confusion, and Ron continued, hoping to stem any tide of protest from the older woman, "Rufus suggested Amsterdam, and it's supposed to be pretty awesome... And KP's always wanted to hit Paris, and honestly, me too..."

"I..." Shay stared at Ron, a mix of emotions warring across her face. Confusion, worry, happiness, finally a bit of relief as she smiled. "Well, that was awkwardly cute, Ronnie..." she finally said, earning a snort from Kim and a nervous chuckle from Ron. "I... I haven't got any jobs lined up, unless you count GJ maybe calling me..." they both nodded, Kim's face troubled by the mention of the possible GJ job, which Ron had talked her into, "That... Might be fun, y'know?"

"Slammin'!" Kim crowed, barely keeping her voice at a conversational level. Then she reached across the table to give Shay a brief hug, to which the older woman stiffened for a few instants, before rolling her eyes and returning the affectionate gesture in a like fashion. Kim let go and sat back down, starting in on her double scoop of iced custard, still smiling at the older woman.

Ron smiled a goofy little grin at the sight as his fiancée sat back down. She had been acting somewhat silly since Shego had ended their budding argument over clothes earlier, a lot of her silliness directed at the pale woman seated with them. It didn't bother him to see Kim finally starting to relax and enjoy the vacation, even if it did take more than him and getting away from everyone. In fact...

He cut his thoughts off when he noticed the manner in which Kim was licking at the double scoop. While it was her normal action, this was the first time he'd paid attention to it while seated essentially across from her. Something about it caught him off guard, the red-head's expression, and a few remembered pictures from his early teens while surfing the internet.

He turned his gaze to Shay, who was blinking and seemed fairly startled by something... Possibly even the same thing! Thinking about it, Ron had ended up at the same conclusion that seemed to run through Shego's mind, if the slight flush slowly creeping up her throat and onto her face was any indication.

_Of course..._ Ron thought _We're probably wrong..._ After all, he'd seen Kim licking dozens of ice cream cones in their time together, and what she was doing at that moment was no different! But... There was the happy, amused glint in her eyes... But then again, it _could_ be that she's just _that_ happy about Shego's agreement to join them on vacation! And he'd never seen Kim flirt with anyone when she was interested! She'd just act gaga and stutter and act uncertain... _Except with me... So... Maybe?_ Ron almost dropped his head onto the table in frustration, but kept his cool by the skin of his teeth. And a large bite from his Black Forest Cherry iced custard.

_Triple-S' advice didn't cover _anything_ like _this_, dammit!_ After a moment's contemplation, he realized he could be reading it right with his thoughts about the familiarity of Kim's actions... But his other thoughts, the ones in agreement with Shego, couldn't be that far off, could they?

And then Shay narrowed her eyes for a second before blinking again. _She seems to think so,_ he barely kept from letting out a loud guffaw at his own thoughts, _And she's a lot more familiar with flirting, isn't she?_ He was both glad he hadn't, and wondering if he should have let it out when, a moment later, the older woman began to absently swirl her tongue around the tip of the soft serve as she watched Kim.

Ron blinked a couple times before glancing back at Kim. She started out speaking with her concentration on the scoops of her double cone, but turned her attention back to Shego halfway through her question, "So, which do... Um... Do you suggest?"

Ron seemed startled at Kim's hesitation, and then the near squeak at the end of the last word. He glanced back at Shego, who was absently swirling her tongue around the tip of her soft serve iced custard. Then she smirked slightly, gently bringing the tip into her mouth and suckling on it, almost like she was sucking on a... _No way! She's _not_ doing that! Is she?_

He glanced back at Kim, noticing a slight blush at the tips of her ears and across her nose. Several thoughts flashed across his mind, but the one he finally settled on was what, exactly, all this looked like. _Well, girls..._ he thought with a wicked internal laugh, _Time to find out if _three_ can play this game!_ Taking a steadying breath, he took long, slurpy lick at his iced custard looked at Kim, "How's the... Pistachio, KP?"

Kim glanced over at him, noticing that he had hidden his tongue from Shego behind his cone, and was lazily running the tip of his tongue along the outside of his scoop, his face the picture of innocence, despite the strange, almost half lidded way he was looking at her. Her blush deepened and quickly spread, before she managed to squeak out, "It's good!"

Ron removed the cone from his face and set it back in the carrier they had been given by the staff, and held his hand out before asking, with seemingly sincere innocence, "Can I try?"

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Shego had been quite surprised by the sudden hug from Kim, but had no problems with it in the least. It was affectionate, but she couldn't help but wonder why it seemed less like the hugs she'd received as Miss Go, and more like the ones Kim gave Ron. She wasn't even bothered that she returned the hug in the same manner.

What did surprise her is Ron's lack of response to the hug. He gave his normal, goofy little smile as Kim began to lick at her iced custard, but then his expression changed subtly. Something about his gaze at her was off, as if startled by something. Shego turned back, and she saw the red-head licking at her the scoops. Shego noticed how the pistachio iced custard didn't look like most did, the nuts probably having been ground before being added to the mix.

Then she realized the younger woman was looking at her intently, her green eyes just peeking over the top of the double scoop and slowly raising as she licked up the middle where the two scoops met. The scoops, smooth and pale green, came together with a slight, smoothly rounded seam. Kim's tongue finally reached the top of the seam, and then quickly went back down, and Shego was struck how... Familiar it was. _Good technique, I wonder how that'd feel..._

Shego felt her neck heating as a deep flush crawled up from her chest, somehow just keeping from crossing up onto her face. The thought, and the familiarity she'd felt brought the pale woman a brief, intense flashback to college, and one of her feminine friends with benefits, a woman named Muriel. She'd been a red-head as well, but closer to auburn than Kim's fiery, blazing locks. It didn't matter, however, as Shego could see startling, even disturbing similarities.

Muriel had been one for eye contact, especially when being sexual. She hadn't been the first to stare at Shego while performing cunnilingus, but she'd been the most intense about it. The flashback shooting through Shego's mind was one of the more intense sexual moments with Muriel. They'd been planning on clubbing, but upon seeing Shego in a mini skirt, a midriff baring top and high heels, she'd seemed to lose control. She'd shoved the pale woman back just enough to make her sit at the edge of the former thief's couch, and almost literally dove at Shego's nether lips. The skirt had been shoved up to Shego's waist, her panties yanked to the floor, and the woman had started licking her as if her life had depended upon it.

The moment had been incredibly sexual, and exciting... And here was Kim, maintaining eye contact, while licking at the scoops of pistachio ice cream. A pair of scoops that, with the way they'd been squashed together, and with the way Kim was holding the cone, made Shego think of how the top of her own nether lips had looked when Muriel had been going at it. She narrowed her eyes slightly, and, indeed, a picture taken from this angle, darkened and cropped just so, would look just like Kim was...

_Princess..._ Shego thought to herself, barely suppressing a devilish smirk, _What_ are _you playing at, here?_ The former thief leaned slightly to the side, and changed the way she was holding her cone. Instead of holding the base between her thumb and forefinger as she had been, she leaned the cone and iced custard such that it would seem as if she were cupping a breast.

Then Kim spoke, still staring at her, "So, which do..." The red-head stopped short briefly as Shego began to swirl her tongue around the top, as if around an areola, making the swirled tip of her soft serve custard look more and more like a stiffening nipple. That was Shego's intent, of course, and she smirked, taking in the newly shaped tip of her soft serve as if suckling a nipple into her mouth. Her nose and ears began to burn from a blush, and Shego barely resisted the temptation to laugh as Kim continued, "Um... Do you suggest?

Shego caught Ron's gaze almost snap back at her out of the corner of her eyes. But she paid him no real mind as she continued suckling at the soft serve, relishing the little squeak as Kim finished her last word. She was about to open her mouth to let Kim off the hook, when she an almost evil glint in Ron's eyes. Then he turned his full attention to his fiancée, "How's the... Pistachio, KP?"

Shego was somewhat surprised at the slight emphasis he put on 'pistachio', before he brought his cone between the lower half of his face and the pale woman. She raised an eyebrow at the action, then caught Kim's blush moving down from her face to her neck, and darkening alarmingly. _What's that boy doing, I wonder?_

"It's good!" Kim's voice had more in common with a startled mouse than a young woman. The younger woman watched Ron's hand like it was a snake about to strike as he set his cone into the cone holder.

"Can I try?" Ron asked, his face the model of innocence. _Unless you look at the eyes..._ Shego thought, allowing the slightest of chuckles past her lips, _For some reason, I feel almost sorry for Kimmie..._

Kim nodded somewhat dazedly, and Ron took her double cone from her, holding it just as she had. The red-head watched with fascination as the blond stared at her, his eyes now blatantly half lidded with salacious intent. Shego noted absently that his gaze was off in the distance somewhere between herself and Kim, his goofy smile replaced by a knowing, suggestive grin. Kim's breath hitched as Ron began to run his tongue up one side of the seam between the cones, then the other, before sliding deftly up the middle.

That's when his gaze bored right into Shego's eyes. She almost flinched at the unexpected movement, and did raise both of her eyes speculatively when he finished the top of his third lick. He folded his tongue, which was fully out of his mouth, along its length and brought it up to the top of the seam. Immediately afterwards, his tongue unfolded and folded again, this time across its width and _rippled_, moving back and forth across the creamy custard from about two thirds of the way back all the way to the tip.

"Ron!" Kim breathed out, her voice catching slightly. This drew Shego's eyes to her for a moment, as well as Ron's, and to cover whatever protest it seemed she had planned on, she choked out, "You said you just wanted a taste!"

The statement drew a chuckle from all three of her tablemates, and Ron pulled the cone away from his mouth to hand it to her, his actions having left a trail of half melted iced custard coating the top of his tongue. He drew his tongue slowly back into his mouth, smacking noisily as he tasted it, before turning his attention back to Shego. With a nod, he said in a drawn out manner, "Yup, and it was _delicious_..."

Shego felt her earlier flush returning, this time crawling up far enough to stain her cheeks and bridge of her nose. She refused, however, to acknowledge it, especially considering that Ron seemed to be blushing at his boldness as well. Instead, she glanced over at the deeply blushing Kim, who was a deep, embarrassed red from the top of her head to halfway down her arms. The pale thief could easily believe the blush extended down to her belly button or lower, and she gave the red-head a wink as she cooed, "It looks like _someone_ is familiar with that little technique, eh, Princess?"

Kim grunted in frustration at the teasing, covering her face bashfully and hissing at Shego, "Oh, shut up!"

"Oh, she is..." Ron quipped with a glib chuckle.

Kim let out a strangled sound of protest, which Shego couldn't help but rise to, "Well, she seems to like it almost as much as her pistachio cone, there..."

"But that's all I've tried!" Kim muttered, glancing between her fingers at the older woman, as if expecting some kind of verbal trap.

"Well, Pumpkin... You could always try my peach or Ron's cherry..." The innocent phrase was enough for a still blushing Kim to lower her hands to the table, and open her mouth to speak, when Shego pounced on the opportunity, "Oh, wait, you've _had_ Ron's cherry already, so that leaves my peach!"

Kim's jaw dropped, her mouth opening and closing like a gaffed fish, and Ron's hands slapped over his mouth as he tried to stop from laughing like an idiot. Shego sat back and took a long, leisurely lick at her soft serve, a devious, self satisfied smile upon her face. The red-head was half glaring at her and Ron, half fighting a smile and laugh of her own, when she finally reacted by raising a hand and flipping Shego off.

This made the older woman chuckled darkly, and she leaned forward quickly enough to make Kim sit back in her seat. "Careful what you ask for, Princess..." Shego purred, "Ronnie might get jealous..."

"You... You... You!" Kim choked out, quickly grabbing a napkin and wadding it up, tossing it at Shego.

"She's learning, isn't she, Sport?" Shego asked, glancing at Ron, who was almost blue from trying to hold back his laughter. Seeing this, Kim reached out and poked him in the belly, making Ron grunt out a half choked, gasping guffaw.

Ron gave Kim a dirty look, before turning back to Shego, "What?"

"Oh, about tossing food at me." She chuckled, earning an eye roll from Kim and a giggle from Rufus and Ron both.

"Yeah, well, if I missed with ice cream..." Kim paused and shook her head, "Rather, iced custard, it'd be a lot more messy!"

"Could be fun, Kimmie!" Shego chirped, drawing more mirth from Rufus and Ron, and a rueful chuckle from Kim.

"Just keep it up, Shay!" the red-head exclaimed, her blush finally beginning to face, "You did promise some sparring tomorrow morning, after all!"

"As if _that_ won't be fun?" Shego quipped as her three friends laughed...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"I still say that was badical!" Ron enthused as they stepped off of the U-Bahn train at the _Theresienwiese_ station. It was just past 2:30 p.m., and it had been just over twenty minutes since they'd left the _Museum Mensch und Natur_, or Museum of Man and Nature. Kim nodded indulgently, as it was fairly rare for Ron to get interested in the sciences, and due to the fact that it had, indeed, been badical.

Of course, that hadn't been the only thing they'd see. The museum occupied part of the _Schloss Nymphenburg_, or Nymphenburg Palace. She and Shay had seen the grounds on the opening day of Oktoberfest from the air. They'd almost crashed into the Badenburg building while trying to stop a high tech thief, and Kim had ended up fighting more thieves near the _Großer See_, an artificial lake within the palace's greater grounds, the _Schlosspark Nymphenburg_.

This time they'd walked the grounds at a leisurely pace, and Shay had pointed out many things of interest, much to Kim, Ron and Rufus' delight. She'd ended her impromptu tour with the museum, which had held many fascinating exhibits, some of which had earned the almost childlike enthusiasm Ron was exuding, seemingly from every pore.

"Calm down, there, Sport..." Shay chuckled, reaching out to stop his hand from ruffling his hair back into its normal cowlick, just beating Kim to the action, "And stop that! We avoided you two getting into an argument once already..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Ron griped good-naturedly, sticking his tongue out at the older woman.

As a way to stop Ron from messing with his hair, Kim reached out and wrapped both of her arms the arm he'd been trying to muss his hair with. Ron didn't seem to mind a bit, and if Kim was reading his smile right, he'd been trying for this for a while. She pursed her lips for a moment, then smiled up at him, "Smooth, Potential Boy..."

"It worked, didn't it?" Ron quipped with a huge grin, and Kim shook her head.

"You could have asked..." the red-head muttered with mock severity, and Ron chuckled.

"Yeah, but this was funner." Ron countered, his grin widening.

"Or more annoying for some of us..." Shay griped as if she were seriously annoyed. Ron glanced over at her and waggled his eyebrows, before winking and allowing just a hint of his tongue to peek past his lips. Shay raised an eyebrow and raised her hand as if to swat the underside of his chin, and Ron flinched, quickly sucking his tongue back into his mouth. "Gotcha! Two for flinching!" she crowed, giving him two solid punches to the shoulder.

Ron pouted for a moment, glancing over at Kim. "You asked for it, obviously." She smirked at him when his pout intensified, a goofy expression that drew a giggle from her. She almost jumped when she felt Shay's arm settle over both Ron's shoulder and her hand settle easily upon her neck.

"Y'know, I could always kiss it and make it better..." the older woman muttered huskily, before disengaging her arm and skipping ahead, tittering as Kim blew a raspberry at her. "Promises, promises, Cupcake!" she called back at them, "I'm going to go on ahead and make sure our reservations at the _Wirtshaus im Schichtl_ tent are still in place!"

"'Kay!" Kim called back, staring after the pale woman as she left them in a quick walk. Kim couldn't help but notice the extra sway that Shay had put into her stride, and found her eyes drawn to the hypnotic motion, as if her eyes had a will of their own. A month and a half, perhaps two months ago, she'd have been blushing deeply at such an overt oggling, but now...

Now, she couldn't help but notice how pleasant that sway was, and how nice the older woman's rear end and legs looked, especially in _those_ jeans and wearing her mid heeled boots. She bit her lip, wondering what that meant. Could she be discovering another side to herself, having gotten away from home, and the pressure, the worry, she so often felt around her family? Or was it possible that, being so comfortable in her relationship with Ron, that she was allowing herself to discover more about herself than she'd realized was there?

She shook her head wonderingly; her mother and father had long ago told her about the birds and the bees. They'd even gone into various forms of sexuality, in general terms at first, but in more detail as she got older. She'd never considered herself anything but straight, but at the same time, she'd always considered herself open minded. After seeing Tara and Alex together and becoming such good friends with them, it seemed her open mindedness was expanding how she felt, in general.

Just before the trip, she'd wondered a few times, in that strange, open place between sleep and wakefulness, what it would be like to fall for a woman. She still hadn't considered it possible she ever would, but now? Now, as she watched Shay almost literally bounce around the edge of a merchandising stand, she had a strong feeling she was finding out just what it felt like. "You're right, Ron... She _is_ beautiful."

"Just like you, KP." Ron admitted with as low a voice as he could, considering the crowds around them, "And in those jeans? As Tara would say, 'da-_yum_'!"

"Perve!" Kim tittered, slapping his chest lightly, "But... She is in amazing shape..."

"Enough for you to flirt with her at the parlor, eh?" Ron ribbed her gently, raising a questioning eyebrow at her confused expression. Rufus got into the act too, popping out of Ron's pocket to scramble up to his shoulder, before cocking his head almost completely to the side at Kim.

"Um..." Kim blinked at them, frustration at their comments pushing her to speak more harshly than she'd intended, "What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

"Um..." Ron mimicked unintentionally, wincing at her mild curse and blinking in confusion, "Back at the iced custard parlor? It seemed like you were flirting with Sheegs pretty hard..."

"Ronald Stoppable!" Kim said in a serious, annoyed tone, "I was _not_ flirting with Shay!"

"You weren't?" Ron asked, some concern in his tone, "KP, I'm being serious, here... I thought you might not be, but, well... You acted like you were!"

"I..." Kim had been prepared to rip into Ron over his comments, but seeing the actual worry in his eyes and hearing it in his voice, she stopped herself, "One sec, Ron..." She thought back, remembering every moment after they'd sat down. _Okay, I hugged Shay, nothing flirty about_ that_... Then I started in on my double cone, the pistachio was_ amazing_! Then_ Shay _started flirting with_ me_, rather unabashedly, no less! Then Ron had joined in, teasing me with his cherry cone, and asking me if he could try mine... Then he held my cone like I had, and when he began licking at it, I guess it kinda looke-..._ Kim stopped her her tracks, causing Ron to stumble and Rufus to chitter in objection to the sudden stop. "Oh... My... _God_!"

"KP?" Ron asked, his voice even more concerned as Kim's face seemed to begin glowing red.

"Oh, my God!" Kim spluttered a laugh, followed almost immediately by keening groan of embarrassment as she buried her face in Ron's chest, "Omigod, I'm sorry, Ron! I so _did_ flirt with her, and completely didn't realize it! Oh, God, I didn't even realize... Why didn't you two tell me earlier? This is _so_ the drama!"

"Nah..." Ron chuckled, gently pushing Kim back by the shoulders, then cupping her chin to bring her eyes up to look at him. She met his gaze, and despite wanting to look away, she found herself getting lost in his eyes, "It's all good, KP! I mean, she flirted back, and I flirted with both of you, and it was kinda fun, right?"

"Um..." Kim swallowed nervously, her blush subsiding as worry took over, "Kinda?" She looked away and a small, worried pout descended over her face, "But... I mean... I _totally_ didn't mean to, Ron, are you sure it-..."

"KP..." Ron's tone was suddenly serious, and it drew Kim's attention back to him like a moth to the flame, "Did it bother you when Shay flirted with you? Or when I flirted with her? Or you?"

Kim pondered his question for a moment. "No... Not really? I mean, yeah, when I got all embarrassed, it did, but... I mean, not like... It wasn't like when Bonnie tried to take you from me during homecoming? And... Um, I..." She flushed slightly, not from embarrassment, but from another emotion entirely. It was a flush Ron had seen several times since their relationship had taken a step up, and Kim knew he was smiling because of it.

Kim lacked Ron's instinctual ability to just let her mouth speak without thinking about it, but she could _make_ herself do just that, especially for important things. Usually, it was physical, such as when she said 'yes' to his proposal... But sometimes, like now, he was verbal. And, she knew, this was important, to both of them. She wasn't sure how, but she _knew_ it was. So seeing Ron's smile, Kim knew that he was aware what she was about to say was from her heart, and that she wouldn't add qualifiers and conditions to it, "Honestly, I liked it? I mean... It made me feel... I dunno, kinda special... That I'm attractive enough that a goofy, cute, high school star running back and a really hot woman would flirt with me?

"It was also nice that..." She paused, swallowing again and ducking her head, her voice just loud enough for Ron to hear, "I liked how you flirted with both of us at the same time... Even when you flirted with Shay, it was... God, it's gonna sound ferociously weird, but it was kinda hot..." Kim raised her eyes and leaned up, giving Ron a solid peck on the lips, "Honestly, Ronnie... If you had no problems with it?" Ron shook his head negatively, giving her an encouraging smile, which she returned bashfully, "Then, yeah... I... I liked it."

"Liked what, Princess?" Shay asked from behind her, and Kim jumped as if the older woman had goosed her.

"How's the reservations look?" Kim glanced over her shoulder, thankful that she couldn't feel the flush on her face anymore, "No problems?"

"Nope!" Shay said, then cocked her head to the side, reaching out to place a hand challengingly on Kim's shoulder, "And don't think you're gonna get past me with that, Cupcake! A master of distraction you're no-..."

"Green Fire Babe! Red Babe!" a loud, boisterous voice bellowed from behind Shay, "Here at Oktoberfest, seriously? This is _awesome_!"

"Hey there, Eddy..." Shay commented, sotto voice, her eyes pleading with Kim that she was just imagining things. Kim shook her head ever so slightly, and the older woman looked almost ready to cry as the sound of vocally accompanied air guitar came from behind her. With a resigned sigh, she whispered, "What next?"

**Author's Notes**

And another chapter down. Nothing too heavy on the drama this chapter, but nonetheless, I thought it was fun. I almost felt sorry for Jeffery while I was writing thi-... Nah, I didn't! It should be fairly obvious where the inspiration came from, but I couldn't resisit throwing it in, just to see how the Kim in my mind handled being put in that particular situation. And luckily for them, Jeffery made the mistake of touching Estelle first, non?

Poor Shego... Or Shay, as Kim, Ron and Rufus seem to be dead set on calling her, now that they know her name! First, she has to stop a budding argument over a fashion disaster, then gets caught in a triangle of flirting... Not that it seemed to bother her too much, of course! And Ron, jumping in with both feet... So unlike him, yet, fitting for someone just starting to come into their own as a person, as well as to the goofball we all know and love! Or loathe, in a few cases, but I hope my presentation of how I feel a post "Graduation" Ron could turn out changes that, at least for the fic...

Then we have Kim... Poor girl's stuck herself in quite a pickle, but at least she seems to be relatively alright with it. We can hope, anyway, non? Now to see how it all plays ou-... Wait, Motor Ed? Already? Uh, oh...


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Forward**

First off, there's gonna be a couple scenes in this and the next chapter that'll push the boundaries of the "T" rating, but are still within that limit, at least to my views. Please, let me know if I have pushed it too far... And now... The review responses!

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations. And, well... More flirting, but the implication _is_ kinda plain, non?

jen2006: while I will not say which direction I'm eventually taking here, I will say (as I said in the rare PM on this site) that I hope you continue to enjoy the fic, even if that's the direction I go. Either way, thank you for the review, I appreciate them all! ^_^

Jimmy1201: thanks for another review more of your kind words! While I've never been to Germany or Oktoberfest (I've wanted to for literally a couple decades now... T_T), I've studied the places quite a bit. As for Motor Ed showing up, well... The result of that's this chapter, and it may very well be _quite_ the surprise indeed...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"And Blondie, and Ruf-dude, too!" Edward 'Motor Ed' Lipsky continued after his air guitar. Thankfully, in Shego's opinion, his screeching vocal accompaniment to the air guitar was over. "Dude! Booze, babes everywhere, and now you guys! This is _seriously_ an awesome day!"

"So, Eddie..." Shego muttered as she caught Kim, Ron and Rufus' reaction out of the corner of her eyes. They weren't exactly in combat ready stances, but all three were in a relaxed, neutral position, ready to move at a moment's notice if need be. _What the hell, guys?_ she wondered silently at them, _The Mommas Lispky made sure he went clean with several of the other villains!_

Unless they knew something she didn't, of course. Pursing her lips, she ushered Ed and her friends over out of the main flow of people into a surprisingly deserted space behind a set of carnival rides and souvenir booths, before speaking again, "What brings you to the 'Fest, Mullet-..." She smirked evilly as his appearance struck her, "Not-So-Mullet-Man? Nice duds, by the way..."

"Um, thanks, Green Fire Babe..." Ed paused, uncertainly, continuing with a slightly scrunched up face, "Y'know, that's a lot easier to say in my head... Anyway, I kinda had to, y'know, even out the do..." He opened his mouth to say something, and noticed that Team Possible seemed half ready to fight. After a moment he continued, his thoughts about his hair half forgotten, "The clothes are for a business meeting with someone here at the 'Fest!" He self-consciously smoothed out the expensive - yet somehow slightly unkempt looking - suit jacket he wore, as if it were completely alien to him. Which, for anyone that knew Ed, it was.

"Working meeting with 'someone' here at the 'Fest, Eddie?" Shego chuckled, leaning on her right leg, her left cocked out and relaxed, "I have to know, is it someone that the Mommas Lipsky wouldn't like you associating with?"

"No way, seriously, Green Babe!" he smiled a huge, toothy grin, "Yeah, lots easier to say... Anyway, no, there's this dude here in Germany, he's workin' out some deal with the Liebherr Group, and he wants the Motor Man's seriously righteous mechanical skills to improve mining operations! Y'see..." He stopped, blinking and then smiled ruefully, scratching the back of his head, "I can't talk much about it, y'know, non-disclosure an' all that? All I _can_ say that it's completely above board, and if it all works, it'll improve mine safety, like, thirty five or forty percent, even at places that don't give much of a damn about safety 'n' shit..."

"Really?" Kim asked finally, her tone guarded, but not overtly hostile, "No offense, Ed, but even though we're on vacation," she indicated herself, Ron and Rufus, "I heard from my cousin that some of your boys were stealin' stuff back in the states..."

"Yeah, so'd I." Ed sighed, "But my Momma and Momma Matty kinda convinced me to go on the straight and narrow... Seriously, I've been over in Kyoto the last month, Red, and it's been awesome! I convinced some of the boys to leave the old biz an' come with me, and I started up my own research and development company over in Japan!"

"That's cool!" Ron said, once again grinning his goofy grin. Kim wasn't quite so easily convinced, but she let Ed continue when he started speaking again.

"Yeah, it's awesome, like, woah, seriously!" Ed enthused, looking as if he were barely restraining the desire to air guitar. After a brief moment, he continued, his face taking on a slightly dismayed expression, "But the rest, they were seriously harshin' on all our mellows, so... I let 'em go, y'know, told 'em to do whatever, seriously..."

"I hope you don't mind me wondering about that?" Kim said with surprising contrition, "I mean... I don't doubt you wanna go straight, but during questioning, some of the guys said _you_ had asked 'em to get the item they were after..."

"No way, Red!" Ed held up his hands defensively, "I mean, seriously... I got me a job where I can dress however I want, and even wear the hairstyle I want! Well, kinda..." He flushed slightly, "I mean, I can wear it long, I just had to drop the mullet... Seriously a bummer, babe, let me tell you..." He sighed, shaking his head at the slight skepticism he still saw lurking in Kim's eyes, "Seriously, Red Babe, I've dropped the old Motor Ed, and I'm tryin' to be respectable now!"

"I think she's wanting proof, Eddie..." Shego said gently. She knew Ron believed him like she did, and she saw that Kim wanted to, as well. But then, the last time they'd met, it hadn't been the most pleasant of meetings, so Shego couldn't begrudge her bout of paranoia.

"Would it ease your concerns if I vouched for him, Kim-kun?" The voice was completely unexpected, and came from right beside Ed, making all all five of them jump, "Because I will, if Edward-san can explain something to me..."

"Um, hey, Yori, what's up?" Ron said in shock, filling the confused silence that Yori's sudden appearance had engendered. Kim was staring with her mouth agape, not having expected to see the young woman for some time.

Shego got over her shock fairly quickly, and was giving the beautiful Japanese girl the once over. She wore a suit similar to Ed's, but in gray with an obviously feminine cut that her body filled out nicely. The Japanese woman's hair was similar to Shego's own, the former thief noted, but shorter in the front and longer in back. Her eyes were a strangely piercing black, and her full lips were quirked in between a smile and a grimace.

Then there was Ed, who stared at Yori as if his brain had short circuited.

"Greetings, Ron-sama!" Yori cried excitedly, bowing deeply to him. Ron returned the bow almost as deeply, and Yori blushed at his show of respect. "As to what is up? I am trying to find out something from Edward-san..."

"Uh... What's that, Y-Yori?" Ed stammered, knowing he'd been caught at something, but obviously clueless as to what.

"Uh, oh..." Shego chuckled as she caught the emotions in the eyes of the Japanese woman, obviously a ninja if she knew Ron and could sneak up on the former thief. She continued in a sing-song voice, an evil smirk coming to her face when Ed paled at her words, "Someone's in trouble..."

"Um, hey, Yori-kun..." Kim said lamely when she finally closed her mouth, "What brings you to the 'Fest?"

"That would be, as Shego-san called him, my 'Not-So-Mullet-Man'!" She turned to Ed before anyone could comment on the possessive she'd used. Although she was smiling, she favored him with a serious gaze, "So, Edward-san... Why is it that you call so many other women 'babe'? I thought I was the only babe in your life, hmmm?"

"No way..." Kim muttered under her breath, and Shego just stared, now as open mouthed as Kim had been a moment earlier, and Rufus chittered in abject shock.

"I'm not surprised..." Ron chuckled at their reactions, and when Kim turned to him, he held a hand up, "One sec, check it out..."

Ed stammered, hemmed and hawed for a moment, looking down at his feet where he was dragging them back and forth like a nervous junior high schooler. Finally, he looked up, as if to see if his pathetic display had worked; seeing it hadn't, he sighed and said in a surprisingly firm tone, "Well, babe, there's seriously a lot of babes here, right? And, well, Red and Green Babe are seriously righteous babes, and so are you!" Yori's right eyebrow raised slightly and she cocked her head challengingly.

"But!" Ed smiled and held up a finger, his pose startlingly reminiscent of one his cousin Drew had used on more than one occasion, "As seriously, _bodaciously_ hot as they are, and as smokin' as so many of the babes here at the 'Fest are, there's only one angel here..." He paused for a beat, and reached out to cup her face gently, "And she's _my_ Angel..."

Shego, Kim and Rufus all groaned under their breath, and Ron chuckled a bit, even as Yori let out a squeal and attacked Ed... With her lips. Shego let out an inarticulate gurgle of shock, and Kim was left muttering incoherent protests of confusion. After a long, intense moment, Yori seemed to remember herself and disengaged from Ed, a self-satisfied smile still touching her lips as she said, "As you Americans would say, good save, Eddie-chan..."

"Wait..." Shego said, a strange, disbelieving smile on her face, "_You_ hooked up with _Eddie_?"

"Is that so hard to believe, Shego-san?" Yori stared for a moment, then blushed before bowing to Shego, "Oh, I am sorry! I am Yori , it is my honor to meet you!"

Shego bowed in return, chuckling when she stood and found Yori still blushing and now leaning against Ed, "Honestly, I don't know, Yori... What do you three think?"

"Um..." Kim blushed herself, shaking her head, "It is kind of a surprise..."

"Hnkh, uh-huh!" Rufus agreed, staring wide eyed at the incongruous image of the beautiful Yori standing against the well dressed, shorter haired but still mustachioed and vaguely unkempt Motor Ed.

"She's still a huge metal fan, right, Ed?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, seriously!" Ed enthused, squeezing Yori to him briefly, "She's got some seriously good taste in tunes, man! As good as Green Babe! And she loves cars..." Ed cocked his head at Shego's snort of amusement, "Hey, don't knock her skills, she's got chops, seriously!"

"So that black Subaru with the huge wing at the GJ Japan parking garage next to Hiro's bike was yours?" Ron asked leadingly, earning a scoffing laugh from Yori.

"Ron-sama, with your American-style humor." she said, shaking her head, "Mine was the green R-34 Skyline..." At Ron and Kim's clueless gaze, and Shego's interest, she smirked and continued proudly, "R-34, V-Spec, and I did all of the modifications..."

"Can't fault your taste," Shego nodded, a rather conceited tone in her voice when she continued, "Although I prefer style, room and speed, so I'll stick with Beemers and Mercedes, thanks..."

"Oh, I'd love to drive the M5!" Yori almost squealed, "I've heard so many good things about how it handles!"

"If Eddie doesn't mind his girl driving, I might be able to arrange something when the weather clears over the Nurburgring..." Shego said leadingly, and could see Yori realized she was using the comment to tease Ed.

"Hey," Ed protested, "She's not my _girl_, she's my _woman_, seriously!" the grin he'd sported since Yori's kiss expanded into a huge, toothy smile, "And she can drive any time she wants..."

"Whip'd!" Rufus crowed in amusement, earning a pouting half glare from Ed, and a laugh from the rest of them.

"I'd have to agree." Kim stated in a proper, even distinguished manner, before chuckling and shaking her head, "And I'm _ferociously_ glad you're actually trying to stay on the right side of the law, Ed..."

"Yeah, well..." Ed's smile became bashful as he looked down at Yori, "I kinda wouldn't wanna piss off Angel here, y'know? Seriously..."

"Okay..." Shego interrupted with a half growl, "Yori, no offense here, but I never thought I'd see Ed this..."

"Housebroken?" Ron supplied helpfully, then eeped as Ed raised his voice in protest.

"Aww, c'mon, dude! Seriously?" Ed half ranted, looking for all the world like his cousin, drawing in a huge breath of air in preparation for an intense rant.

"It wasn't too hard..." Yori interrupted with an elbow to Ed's gut. The big man huffed his breath out and gave her a sour, but strangely chagrined look as the ninja continued, "Especially after I cut his hair..."

"Uh-buh-buh-buh-buh..." Shego protested, her eyes wide in shock as she addressed Ed, "_You_ let _her_ cut your hair?"

"Nah, babe, seriously..." Ed groused, "I _totally_ didn't _let_ her cut the 'do!"

"And you're still with him?" Shego glanced at Yori, raising an appreciative eyebrow, before looking back at Ed, "I remember, vividly, you going all Neanderthal on a _wheelchair_ that only _mussed_ it a little bit!"

"Dude, Green Babe, guys, let me tell you, seriously..." Ed growled, his face taking on a bit of its old menace, "I was _way_ beyond _seriously_ PO'd when she did it..." Yori giggled a bit, apparently remembering it all herself, and Ed sighed, "But, y'know... I saw her puttin' away the knife she used to do it? I totally realized that a _smokin'_ hot ninja chick had just cut _the_ mullet with a knife... And I didn't even realize she'd done it 'til I saw all the hair falling!" Ed chuckled, reaching out and putting a proprietary arm over Yori's shoulders, "It was _seriously_ hot, man! Seriously!"

Kim and Ron began laughing out loud at that, Rufus laughing so hard he fell off of Ron's shoulder and into the blond's waiting arms, and Shego was shaking with suppressed laughter as she spoke, "O-only you, Eddie..."

"What's that s'posed t'mean?" Ed asked askance, as if he were missing the joke.

"It means that you're unique, Eddie-chan..." Yori cooed, pulling him down slightly and going on her tiptoes to give him a brief kiss on the lips, "And I am sorry, but our meeting is in a half an hour at the..."

"_Käfer's_ tent..." Ed interrupted, smiling when Yori raised an eyebrow at him, "No way I'm tryin' to speak German! My tongue gets all tied up, and hearing too much makes my brain all tied up..."

"I can actually appreciate that sentiment..." Kim groused, "I've been studying it for a few months, and I'm barely able to speak it!"

"It's okay, though. I am fluent in German, and..." Yori said demurely before her pause. Kim seemed to expect some wholesome observation from the Japanese woman, and Shego half expected one as well, but both ladies jaws dropped again as she continued, "I _like_ my man tongue tied! He's so considerate that way..."

"Angel!" Ed protested, blushing as she grabbed his tie and started to drag him away, "Don't be so cruel and say the Main Man's considerate!"

"_Sayonara_, Ron-sama, Kim-kun!" Yori waved back at them, a grin on her face, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Shego-san!"

"Bye!" Rufus - now back on Ron's shoulder - and Ron called back, waving after her enthusiastically.

"See ya!" Kim replied, giving a more subdued wave.

"Likewise..." Shego murmured, watching the ninja and the gearhead walk away. The lion's share of her concentration seemed to be on Yori's retreating backside, however, which Kim observed with a challenging grin.

"Too bad she's taken, huh?" Kim said innocently.

Shego spoke, not really paying attention to Kim's words, nor her own when she spoke, "Eh, got my eye on someone else, anyway..." She shrugged and turned away as Ed and Yori disappeared into the crowd, and began walking towards the tent they had reservations at. Ron and Kim fell into step next to her.

"Oh?" Kim asked, and Shego glanced over, seeing the red-head swallowing as if against a dry throat, "Lucky girl, or guy, then..."

"Maybe... Kinda depends if there's interest coming my way or not..." Shego barely repressed the urge to giggle as Kim began blushing. After a few moments, she looked back to their path, intentionally keeping her tone light and her eyes off of Kim, "Oh, hey, Princess..." When the red-head looked at her, Shego gave her a soft smile, "A friend of mine, she was an exchange student when I was going to GCU, owns a club here in Munich called _Liebe-Hass-Liebe_... As she says, it's the bastard child of Applebee's, a fifties diner and a good old fashioned punk rock club..."

"Yeah?" Kim looked at her questioningly, a smile tugging at her lips, "Sounds interesting..."

"It is..." Shego confirmed, still looking ahead, but a smirk ever so slightly showing past her smile, "Anyway, I heard you talking about _Die Scheißeköpfe_..." Kim stopped in the middle of the path, and when Shego glanced back over, she almost laughed at the wide eyed, hopeful gaze Kim was throwing her way.

She glanced at Ron and winked subtly at him, and he began to smile hugely at her, "Well, I called Sarah - the friend with the club - earlier, and asked if she had anything going on tonight... And I mentioned you two, and the band and your friend back in the states..." Shego's smirk finally defeated its battle with the easy smile she'd been holding, and came out in full force. "Well, she knows the lead singer for _Die Scheißeköpfe_, and despite this, they haven't played at her club... And he said they were kinda bored with just drinkin' at Oktoberfest, and Sarah kinda name dropped Team Possible to them..."

"No way... No _way_!" Kim exclaimed in wide eyed shock, literally shivering in anticipation of an answer counter to her words. "You didn't..."

"Well, if you guy's would like..." Shego began, chuckling at the nearly childlike glee in Kim's expression, "Their show starts at 8 p.m. tonigh-oof!"

"Omigod, Sheegs!" Kim cried as she crashed into Shego with what looked less like a hug and more like a hockey body check. The hug literally knocked the two of them out of the normal walking path, and Ron followed, ready to reach out and make sure they didn't fall over.

"Omigod, are you serious?" Kim asked when their movement stopped, Shego somehow maintaining the balance for both of them, "You mean it? I mean, you set this up? Why? I mean, how... Omigod, omigod!" The words were spoken so quickly that they flowed together, and Shego was so caught off guard that she was left half laughing at Kim's reaction, and half wincing at the exuberance of the hug. She put her arms around the red-head in turn and opened her mouth to say something, but Kim's excited words cut her off, "Omigod, thank you! Thank you so, _so_ much! Alex and Tara are gonna be _so_ stoked, oh my _God_, thank you!"

Kim turned back to her fiancé with a grin that seemed fit to split her face, not noticing the crowd that had half gathered around them. Of course, even without the happy squealing that the heroine was doing, seeing an attractive red-head bury her face in her equally attractive friend's bosom would have caught their attention. _Any other time of year, this _might_ have seemed unusual here in Munich..._ Shego thought, considering the majority of the looks the crowd was giving them. After another brief moment of thought, she snorted to herself, _Okay, it's Munich, probably not... But at least most of them seem to think it's cute!_

"Did ya hear, Ronnie?" Kim asked as she turned from Shego's chest, and Ron could only nod as he laughed along with Shego, "Isn't she so ferociously awesome?"

"Nah..." Ron said easily, his smile becoming more of a smirk, "She's badically awesome!"

"Yup!" Kim agreed, giving Shego a briefly tighter squeeze.

"Hey, now..." Shego wheezed theatrically, gently placing her hands on Kim's shoulder. The younger woman got the hint and let go, leaning back a bit with her arms held behind her back bashfully. A brief moment later she blushed, realizing not only how she'd reacted, that there was a gathered crowd, and just how intimate the gesture had been. "I name dropped you guys, too, y'know..."

"True..." Kim giggled, her enthusiasm still intact, but her speech back to normal levels, "But you managed to pull it off... Oh, God, thank you..."

"No, Princess..." Shego said to her, cupping her cheek gently, then glancing at Ron, "Thank you... This is thanks to both of you, for helping me come to grips with my issues..." She sighed, briefly touching the choker around her neck, "Or start to, anyway..."

"But... It's what friends do..." Kim whispered, barely audible over the hubbub of Oktoberfest, "And you've helped us, too, y'know? Like this morning, and... You helped me, too..."

"Still, it's the least I could do," Shego shrugged as nonchalantly as she could under Kim's intent gaze, "I mean, since I have contacts here you don't..."

"Thanks, Shay..." Kim whispered, then impulsively stood on her toes to deliver a quick kiss to the older woman's cheek.

Shego stared down at the petite heroine and smiled at her in an almost shy manner, "No problem, Princess..."

Kim sighed then and stepped back, looking around them with a touch of self consciousness. She saw the smile on Ron's face, and then blinked as if seeing something in his eyes. She glanced at her wrist Kimmunicator, her voice taking on a tone of slight evasiveness, "Oh, it's almost 3:30! Since the reservations are in my name, I'll go let them know we're basically here, 'kay?"

"Sure, Pumpkin..." Shego smiled indulgently, watching the red-head all but skip away, before turning her attention to Ron, "I get the feeling she did that 'cause she thought one of us wanted to talk to the other?"

"Could be..." Ron agreed affably, his gaze staying on Kim for a moment before turning to Shego. "Sheegs... Shay... Thanks..."

"You already heard what I said to Kimmie..." Shego grumped turning back to watch Kim disappear around the front of the tent that was their destination. There was, however, no real serious intent behind her apparent dismissal of his thanks, "Same goes for you..."

"Yup." Ron agreed, taking the pale woman slightly off guard by how close his voice was.

_Damn ninja!_ Shego cursed silently when she turned to find Ron less than an arm's length away, his eyes seeming to bore into hers as she stared down at him. "Yeah?"

Ron just shook his head and reached out, enfolding her in a hug of his own. It was affectionate, like Kim's, but quizzically, restrained by the sheer thankfulness she could feel emanating from the blond teen, "Shay... You've made KP happier, longer, than she's been since our first month together in Go City... I know my suggesting this vacation helped, but, you being here with us, being... Being, well, _you_, has helped her more than anyone else could, I think..."

_But what if I don't even know what the 'you' in me is anymore, Ronnie?_ Shego asked him silently as she digested his words for a moment, knowing there was a lot Ron was leaving unsaid. She wasn't sure why he was, but she didn't feel it right to push for answers. _He'll let me know when he's ready..._ she concluded, returning his hug without thinking, in much the same manner she had Kim's earlier. "Hey, Sport... Don't get all emotional on me now, I don't do emotions, remember?"

"Uh, huh..." Ron agreed again, chuckling, patting her back and running one hand from the small of her back to her shoulder blade in a soothing arc, "And that's why you pretty much went out of your way to make KP happy, just so she could help out one of our friends... And why you've made her relaxed enough with herself to flirt with you _and_ me back at the iced custard parlor..."

Shego pulled back enough to look him in the eye seriously, despite how relaxing his hand had been, "I... Hope that didn't bother you..."

"Nah..." Ron assured her, "I mean, you kinda flirted with me, too, right?"

Shego cocked her head to the side as if thinking hard, before snerking and shaking her head, "Maybe a li'l bit... But mostly Kimmie... It's just so _fun_ to tease her..."

"Yeah..." Ron agreed, half turning so they could make their way to the front of the tent. Neither of them seemed to notice his arm still resting comfortably at the small of her back, "And, honestly? KP liked it from us, too... A lot!"

"That's what she was talking about before Eddie showed up, isn't it?" Shego asked, and Ron nodded.

"Just don't tell her that, 'kay?" Ron requested in a light hearted tone, "She'll start to wonder if you don't ask again later..."

"Got it, Sport..." she laughed, leaning her head down to rest on the top of his head for a moment. Then she stood straight, stretching her arms above her as if she'd just woken up, and Ron eased away slightly. Nonetheless, they stood closer together than had been their wont, and Shego found she didn't mind in the least...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"I _so_ thought you were going to turn around and fry him!" Kim snickered after they'd eaten a good sized late lunch from the tent's menu.

"Eh, it kinda depended on his mood..." Shay shrugged, "When he's like he is today, he's actually pretty tolerable... I mean, hell, get him buzzed, but not drunk, and he has some amazing stories about his time as a roadie for several rock and metal bands!"

"Really?" Ron asked in surprise, "And you believe them?"

"Considering the framed pictures, Polaroids and signed CDs, tapes and even _vinyl_ he has?" Shego chuckled, a smug look on her face, "And the fact that he was working security at a Pantera concert Vivi and I went to back in '96? Yeah, I believe him."

"Signed vinyl records?" Ron stared at Shay until she nodded, then shook his head, "Wow..."

"And you saw him at a concert?" Kim asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Yeah, Pantera's winter tour, '96..." Shay confirmed, "I got tickets as a birthday present for Vivi's seventeenth birthday, and we had to go to Rapid City, South Dakota." Shego ducked her head in slight embarrassment, a reminiscent smile on her face. "Anyway, I was seventeen at the time, and obviously Vivi was... Even so, I had to convince her to skip school on her birthday since it was a Friday, but we got up there a few hours early..." She leaned back, taking a delicate sip of schnapps from the thin, short stemware glass in her hand, and glanced up into the ceiling above them.

"They were touring with Neurosis and Biohazard..." She let a slightly disgruntled look come to her face before continuing, "Neurosis kinda sucked live, though I like a good chunk of their studio stuff." She smiled again as she remembered the scene, "Neurosis opened... There was a bunch of junior high schoolers down on the floor, all staring up at the band and the movie shit they were playing on a big, drop down style movie screen behind them, some of them up and headbanging around to the opening like they were evil and everything..."

"Then there was me, standing over next to the wall by the lowest bleachers, and two older dudes, probably in their mid-twenties..." she chuckled, "After the opening drum section, when the band started playing, the one dude got all disgusted and went up to the seats, the other guy stood down there for a while, seemed to hope it'd get better..."

"It didn't, I guess?" Kim asked, seeing Shay grimace again.

"Nope!" she grunted in a slightly annoyed manner, "Anyway, not long after the one guy walked off, they started playing some gorehound shit up on the screen..." She grimaced again, shaking her head slightly, "Um, if I remember, it was some politician from Pennsylvania that blew his brains out at a press conference. This was after getting convicted of accepting bribes or something like that..." Seeing Kim grimace and shudder slightly, she favored her with a sympathetic look, "Sorry, but it's kinda important to the impact here... The way it looked from the perspective of whoever filmed it, the whole moment was kinda like he was offering the gun to someone else and had this weird, almost, 'Here, you wanna try?' look on his face before he did it."

"In the actual event, he was supposedly warning everybody to stay back so they didn't get hurt..." she chuckled slightly as Kim squirmed some more, "Anyway, the mid-twenties dude that was still down on the floor giggled, I mean, like, this high pitched, mocking thing, and one of the kids that was acting all, 'I am evil, the Lord of Darkness inhabits my body!' and stuff?" She pantomimed someone with 'devil's horns' on both hands, crossing her arms over her heart and half bowing in her seat for a moment with an overly exaggerated evil look on her face, "This kid, couldn't have been more than fourteen, looks at the guy and runs off all panicking and screaming... I heard him over the speaker stacks hanging from the ceiling, screaming at this big, blond guy with a mullet, saying, 'That guy's evil! I mean it, serious evil, get me out of here, please!' and shit..."

"No way..." Kim and Ron said together, Kim slipping in, "Jinx!" just before Ron could. Ron pouted a bit, and Kim continued, "Don't tell me that was Motor Ed?"

"Yes indeed..." Shay laughed lightly, "Vivi and I had to try and get back home that night, so we just stuck around long enough to try and get autographs from Anselmo and Dimebag..." At Kim and Ron's confused faces, she shook her head, "Lead singer and lead guitarist... Jeez..." She chuckled, continuing her story, "Anyway, Mullet-Man and his crew were done, so they were standing around to pick up the leftover groupies the band didn't chase after, and started hitting on us."

"Bet that went over well..." Ron laughed, and Shay shook her head.

"Surprisingly?" Shay asked, "He was pretty respectful, at least back then... Even took the shirts we bought there at the concert back and got them autographed for us!" She shrugged and continued, "But, yeah, when I met him a few years later, he didn't seem to remember, and he _had_ gone through some pretty drastic change-…" The sound of Kim's wrist Kimmunicator playing a decidedly off key version of her 'mission' ringtone startled Shay into a brief silence, before she quipped, "Didja break it, Kimmie?"

"No, it's proof that irony hates me!" Kim snapped, pursing her lips in annoyance as she glared at her wrist.

"Ahem?" Shay's tone was annoyed, and drew a slight blush from Kim as the red-head looked at her.

"Sorry, you didn't deserve that." Kim apologized sincerely, before looking back at the device on her wrist, then at Ron. She seemed as if she didn't want to answer it, but a hard look from Ron made her sigh and answer with huff. She had a tense, disapproving grimace on her face when she spoke, "Hello, James..."

"Um..." her father's face appeared on the screen, which startled Kim slightly. She cocked her head to the right, but still wore the grimace. James sighed, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender, "Kimmie-cub, I'm at Drew and Wade's lab, an-..."

"What are you doing _there_?" Kim interrupted, her voice staying level, but becoming decidedly cold as she stared at her father, "Trying to talk them into spying on Ron and I so we don't do anything inapprop-…"

"Kim!" Ron snapped sharply, surprising Shay and drawing an eyeroll from Kim.

"Well, if the friggin' shoe fits..." Kim defended herself with heat in her own voice, as well. Seeing Ron's challenging stare unabated, she shrugged and turned her attention to Ron, ignoring her father's image, "Remember, Ron? How he wanted me to move back home and all the _other_ friggin' shit he said, like saying you're just the typical, worthless boy after my puss-..!"

"Kimmie-cub..." James said again, his voice strained at the crass language Kim was using. What drew the red-head's attention back to her Kimmunicator, however, was the pain in his voice; that was new, and something that had been decidedly missing from their last few conversations, and the sound of other voices asking what was going on, "Please, I can explain why I've been like that..."

"KP, hear him out, please..." Ron moaned slightly, still convinced that there was something completely wrong about the situation between Kim and her father.

"Might not hurt..." Shay agreed, taken aback by the virulence in Kim's tone, which reminded her distinctly of the Bueno Nacho world headquarters building, and Kim's words to her.

"Oh, I know, James!" she griped, ignoring both of their comments and letting her anger seep into her voice. It seemed that she couldn't think of anything that could explain the betrayal she felt over her father's overreaction to seeing her and Ron together, "You disapprove of my relationship with Ron being the same as yours was with mom in college! You don't want me to make _mistakes_ like you and mom did... Oh, wait, that _mistake_ was was _me_, wasn't it?"

When James didn't say anything to her, but looked as if she'd just kicked a bag of kittens in front of him, she snorted in disgust and reached out to disconnect the Kimmunicator. She jumped in surprise when Shay stayed her hand, her tone serious as she spoke, "Kim, wait..."

"What?" Kim turned a heated glare at Shay, but several facts stopped her from tearing into the older woman. One, there was steel in the older woman's eyes, as well as a note of... Not knowing, but familiarity, as if she were searching for a word on the tip of her tongue in relation to the situation. There was also compassion and confusion, which reminded Kim that the former thief was almost completely unfamiliar with what had happened. Then there was the use of her name, not a nickname or pet name.

"I don't know what's going on, but considering what you've said about the last few months..." Shay shrugged, and relaxed as Kim's shoulders slumped and the red-head let out a hurt, apologetic sigh.

"Sorry, Shay..." Kim said, closing her eyes and taking several long breaths...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

A moment of silence followed Kim's apology, and Shego started when a voice came from the Kimmunicator, "Shego, is that you?"

"Hey, Drew!" she said with a neutral expression, but with a fond lilt to her voice, "I kinda ended up hanging out with Ronnie and Kimmie... I presume you have some information on all this?"

"Yes, I do..." Drew said seriously, his attention turning fully to Kim, "You see, Kimberly..." Shego sat back, pursing her lips at the anger she could almost literally feel rolling off of Kim in waves. It was enough that it set the pale woman's instincts on high alert. Because of that, she began noticing things about the earlier parts of the conversation between Kim and her father, and between Kim and everyone else during the current discussion.

The red-head was fighting them, fighting every aspect of the conversation that pointed at the possibility that James hadn't fully been himself when whatever happened had happened. It felt... Familiar. _Almost like when Hego was acting clueless when we got brain flipped..._ she mused, _Back when I talked after we beat Electronique and the cops got there..._

She mused on this, and other aspects of familiarity popped up that she couldn't quite put a finger on... Kim's irrational anger with her father, to the point of arguing with her mother about it... Kim's tone was so confrontational, Shego half expected her to cuss her mom and Dr. Hauptfall out! It was just...

Shego's thoughts were cut off when Dr. Hauptfall said something that struck the former thief sharply, about the tendency for fathers to be protective, and Kim's face became livid. "That's not my point!" the red-head growled heatedly, barely keeping her voice to an acceptable level in the tent, "He essentially threatened to _kill_ Ron, so what my mom was saying about him being okay with our relationship has to be a load of shi-..."

"We know exactly what he said, Kimmie, _especially_ me!" Anne cut in sharply, "I was there... And threatening to charge Ron with indecency, and the whole black hole thing? Having his government contacts 'eliminate' Ron as a threat to national security? Does that really sound like something your father would do?"

"I don't know, mom, but he _did_ say all that!" Kim snapped, "And Wade _did_ get some confused hits on the site from government agencies asking about Ron..."

"I had nothing to do with that!" James sighed at the doubtful look on his daughter's face, "Kimmie-cub..."

Anne said something else that Shego didn't catch, because her attention was drawn to Drew, who was dragging a familiar device into view. Smirking, she chimed in, "Truth Ray, I presume?"

"Exactly, Shego. Mark III to be specific..." Drew said as seriously as he had earlier, "And all the bugs've been worked out of this as compared to the Mark II..." His qualifier was serious, but tinged with rueful amusement. It seemed to release much of the tension in the conversation, even some of Kim's, and Shego grimaced as she continued to look at the device. "Using the TR Mark III, we were able to delve into, and draw out, not only what James was saying, but what he was _feeling_ and _thinking_ during the event. Something he hasn't been able to do _by himself_ since then."

Kim, feeling as if she wasn't going to be able to get out of the conversation, sighed, thankful that they were in a fairly secluded area of the tent, "Alright, what was he feeling?"

"We have a video..." Drew started, and Shego interrupted, squirming uncomfortably in her chair.

"Sorry, but I hated seeing people under the Mark II's effect..." she said nervously, glancing at Drew on the Kimmunicator, and apologetically to Kim, Ron and Rufus.

"We've made it less obvious, Shego, and changed the method of compliance... But..." he shrugged, squirming slightly, "You wouldn't be able to tell, with James' reaction..."

"If that's the case..." Shego favored Kim with a serious gaze, "Mind if I skip out to get ready for tonight? I mean... If you don't need me here?"

Kim looked torn for a long moment, before sighing and reaching out to hug her, "Go ahead, we'll call if... If we need you, 'kay?"

"If you're sure?" Shego asked, and Kim gave her a heartfelt smile of thanks, and nodded, "Just... Do call if you need me, Kimmie..."

"Right..." Kim and Ron said together, before Kim turned back to the Kimmunicator and said, "Go ahead, Drew..."

Shego turned and walked off, pointedly trying to ignore the sound of James talking in an almost brightly open fashion under the effects of the device, but still shuddered despite herself. _It's not quite as bad as mind control, but if Drew said that it acts like the Mark II, despite changing the pain versus truth compliance aspect, that'd make things just... Wrong..._

She understood why the Mark II had been designed as it was. It wasn't a torture device, per se, and it was set up to never be fatal, but someone could be put through agony if they fought the device's effects. And if they were under mind control of some kind... _Dammit, I know that GJ and a couple other agencies need things like that to assure themselves that they haven't been compromised, but if this one's changed as much as Drew said, and it's_ still _causing James pain..._ Shego literally slapped herself in the side of the head to stop the thought process, ignoring the looks some of the other pedestrians gave her. _Gah, stop thinking about it!_

So she did, by jogging to get back to the hotel. In short order, she was back at the hotel room, picking out an outfit and laying it on the bed. She figured she had at least a half hour before Kim and Ron were back, unless they called, so she decided to just leave everything but her bra and panties in the bedroom.

She was still troubled as she walked out of the bathroom thirty five minutes later, her skin dry but her hair still slightly damp. It wasn't the effects of the Truth Ray on James, however. It was on the other aspect of familiarity she'd felt during the call that had finally struck home, and a cold, wet knot of anxiety was bouncing around her mind. _Witnessing that damn argument was _kind of_ like watching one of my arguments with Hego during my second semester at GCU..._

She shuddered slightly, trying to shake it clear. _How?_ she wondered, _More importantly,_ why _is it so familiar?_ She had no answer, and it was distracting her from the warmth she'd felt flowing through her all day. She slowly slipped on her panties, then her bra, absently hooking it behind her as her mind seeming to spiral into an ever deepening mess of confusion.

"Gah!" she snapped, "This isn't helping!" Scowling, she walked over to the suite's central entertainment system station and picked up her music player. It'd been set up to play some, she'd hoped, soothing R&B. The music hadn't dented her pensive feelings, however, so she decided to change it.

As she scrolled randomly through her playlist, a thought struck her. A brief memory from the same time as the concert she'd told Kim and Ron about surfaced, and she smirked. "Yeah, that sounds good..."

She scrolled a bit further, then hit play and began to nod her head in time with Pantera's song "Walk", her smirk quickly morphing into a grin. As the music settled down into her bones, she forgot that she had to get dressed and began dancing to the song, and it wasn't the kind done in a techno dance club.

As the tune flowed over her, she raised her arms above her head, and began to roll her hips back and forth, up and down in time to the beat. The movement was smooth and easy, designed to draw the eye with subtle undulation, not with sharp, jolting shakes of her rear. Her erotic sway was quickly joined by her arms dropping down, moving them across her body and hugging herself, just enough to push her breasts together in such a way as to display her cleavage quite prominently. She began to twirl and add forward and rearward dips, sometimes keeping her arms where they were, other times extending them out towards the ground, or running them suggestively along her body.

Several of the moves she performed would normally only be done in a gentleman's club, or in privacy for a significant other, but she mixed them with other, less overtly erotic movements as well. She loved how it felt to just _let go_, and found herself falling more and more in tune with the music. The movements were flowing from one to another, in a strange mix of erotic dance and exotic kata, and she found herself feeling more and more restricted by her bra and panties.

She was just reaching up to begin removing them when the stereo's volume suddenly cut in half, Shego had been bent over backwards, only upright due to her incredible balance while running both of her hands over her torso. Her left hand had just cupped over the top of her right breast, and the right was trailing up her right leg from the knee towards her groin.

Her eyes snapped open and she glanced around, to see a blushing, almost nervous seeming Kim standing beside a sitting Ron, who was staring at her with brazen desire visible in his eyes. "Um... Hey, guys?" she called out questioningly, blushing brightly across her cheeks and nose.

"Hey yourself..." Kim managed without sounding too disturbed by the display. She swallowed, but was far from unobtrusive, "Sorry 'bout Ronnie, he kinda had to sit..."

Shego stared for a moment, biting her tongue in an attempt to keep her thoughts to herself, but in the end, couldn't resist as she stared at the now blushing Ron, "Pants a bit tight, Ronnie?"

"And that's why I prefer khakis to slacks." Ron groaned as Kim decided to join in the teasing by sitting down in his lap. "KP..." he whimpered, a mix of pain and frustration evident in his voice.

"You've been teasing me for a _month_, Ronnie..." Kim observed as she stared at Shego with a devilish gleam in her eye, "Serves you _right_, Potential Boy!"

"Harsh, Princess..." Shego drawled, swaying herself upright in a manner that drew the eye along the entirety of her frame. She winked at the two as her move brought their attention back to her, "Don't dilly-dally too much, the club's about forty minutes away, if you include waiting on the trains..."

"I'm good as is..." Kim said with an impish grin, grinding her rear into Ron a bit, "How 'bout you, Ronnie?"

"Um..." he grunted, "I think I'll go with my cargos and that Black Flag shirt Tara got me for my birthda-..." Kim looked as if she were about to pout, but Ron held his hands to his eyes, "KP, c'mon, please, no PDP?"

"If he goes into the pit, Princess," Shego chuckled from her doorway, "It'll be best if he's comfy..."

"True..." Kim sighed, standing from Ron's lap and pulling him up and speaking with a decidedly less than innocent tone in her voice, "C'mon, Ron, let's get you changed..."

Shego chuckled as she saw Kim looking down and followed the red-head's eyes to Ron's crotch. She figured that the bulge she noticed wasn't going to make porn stars worry about their jobs, but she would admit it caught her eye. _Not too bad..._ She let her gaze sweep to Kim's rear, which shook like a puppy's awaiting a treat, _She's as bad as I used to be with Harley! I wonder..._

She shrugged as she closed her bedroom door, wanting to drag herself out of her thoughts, but decided to just allow her mind to wander...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

The exterior for _Liebe-Hass-Liebe_ was, in Kim's opinion, perfect for a punk club. Once a small warehouse, it had movie theater like poster boxes with various punk rock band posters, show times, and other such items. There was also a huge neon sign with the club's name and logo, both '_Liebe_', which is German for 'love', in pink with red hearts flashing in a semi-random pattern. '_Hass_', German for 'hate', on the other hand was done in black light neon on an orange background, with flashes of green flames, which drew a curious glance from Kim.

"Yeah, she kinda based that on me..." Shay chuckled ruefully, "She ran into me during my first Oktoberfest here in Munich after I went bad, and asked if she could base part of the club's sign off of my plasma..."

"Seems you said yes?" Ron asked, earning a light elbow in the gut from the former thief.

"I told her to go to hell!" Shay smirked, "Well, unless I got in free for any show I wanted to see here..."

Ron and Rufus let out a loud laugh, and Kim giggled, shaking her head at Shay, "Such a mercenary..."

"Hey, when ya got it, Princess..." the pale woman said, thrusting her chest out and swinging slightly side to side. Her new shirt - a white, polo-style button tee-shirt short enough to show off her toned midsection just below the belly - had all three buttons open, which showed off a tasteful amount of cleavage, and the lacy lavender bra she wore underneath.

"Shay!" Kim gasped scandalously after staring at the sight for a moment, earning more laughter from her friends.

"Enjoying the view a li'l too much, KP?" Ron asked, earning an elbow from Kim for his troubles. He tried to pout, but the smile on his face just wouldn't leave, and he gave up, "See, abuse!"

"And like I said the last time you protested it," Shay smirked, "You obviously like it..."

"Hallo, Shego!" a bright, happy soprano called out, and Shay turned to look at the person calling her name.

"Sarah!" she answered, holding her arms wide as the short, nearly shaved headed brunette all but tackled her with a hug, "Oof, still lifting and eating well, I see?"

"Oh, shush!" the woman laughed. She was round faced, with shining hazel eyes, and at first glance, Kim guessed her to weigh at least sixty kilograms. Despite the temperature, she wore cut off, skater style cargo pants and a black tank top with the 'Black Flag' logo on it. This allowed clear view of her rather muscular arms and legs, which to Kim's eyes raised her weight estimate up another twenty kilograms at least.

The woman also had several piercings; two piercings on either nostril, a septum ring, three through the bridge of her nose, one piercing in each eyebrow, two sets of 'snake bite' style lower lip piercings, a labret ring and at least a dozen piercings in each ear. That's when the woman noticed Kim, Ron and Rufus and squealed like a fangirl, which Kim couldn't help but wince at. The shorter woman held her hand out to Kim, a huge grin on her face, "Hello, I'm Sarah Wilhelm. Shego said you were looking forward to seeing the lazy bums that call themselves _Die Scheißeköpfe_?"

"Yeah..." Kim agreed, shaking her hand, and chuckling as she nervously held her hand out to Ron, "Don't worry, we're regular people..."

"That just happen to save the world on a regular basis..." Shay disagreed.

"_Ja_, indeed..." Sarah agreed, and looked about to faint when Ron shook her hand.

"Well, as regular as we can be..." Ron corrected, and Kim stuck her tongue out at him. She turned her attention back to a half shocked, half amused Sarah, and continued her earlier comment, "Anyway, a friend of ours back in the states was hoping we could see them live, and see if they were decent live or if they're an album only band like Offspring..."

"Wow, Princess..." Shego commented, and Sara winced at the blunt assessment, "Opinionated much?"

"Hey, I heard them live once..." Kim defended herself, "The lead singer's voice broke more than _Ron's_ did when puberty hit!"

"Hey!" Ron protested with an exaggerated look of hurt, "KP, don't be mean to the Ron-Man!"

"Or what?" Kim cooed, and Ron leaned in to steal a kiss, and whispered something in her ear that made the red-head blush, before pouting at him, "Oh, and you call _me_ mean..."

"Well," Sarah interrupted, smiling at the byplay between the couple, before leading them to a side entrance for the club, "I can assure you that Joseph's voice does not break as easily as Dexter's, but I think you just caught Dexter on a bad day. Normally his concert voice isn't that bad..."

"Oh?" Kim asked, and it was Shay that answered.

"Trust her, Princess..." the former thief assured her, "She's been into punk since she was literally in the womb..."

"Well, since you're here, would you like food before the show?" Sarah asked, and they all shook their heads.

"We ate beforehand." Shay answered for them, "Just so it was all settled..." She pointed an almost accusatory finger at Sarah, "I _remember_ some of the mosh pits that started in this little club of yours!"

"You love it, you know it!" Sarah laughed brightly and she sauntered off to the bar, and Shego lead them towards the front. The inside of the club had an interesting layout. There the bar and grill to the right hand side of the entrance, all of it raised perhaps two meters above the main floor. The look of the bar and grill was eclectic: it had touches of a fifties style diner, with red and white checkered tablecloths, plain, bolted-down bar stools along the bar and at the bolted-down, tall tables between the bar and the meter and a half tall dividing wall. Along that wall separating it from the floor and stage, there were booths with the same red-table cloth coverings, and red vinyl covered seats with chrome along the edges.

In place of the normal, fifties style music and pop culture icons, there were pictures of punk rock bands, some of them even signed, and other musical paraphernalia. The waitresses and lone waiter wore fifties style wait-staff clothing, as reimagined by an alcohol fueled punk rock stylist. The owner seemed fine with the waiter and waitresses having spiked, mohawked or completely shorn hair, not to mention tattoos and piercings.

Glancing out towards the stage, which had its curtains down, she noticed that there were a few folding, hotel style chairs and tables. Seeing Kim's quizzical expression, Shay explained, "Fridays and Saturdays are normally her busiest days, but during 'Fest, she rarely has live acts, and those're usually acts that're bored with the 'Fest anyway..." She then pointed at the tables and chairs, "Those'll probably stay there unless the crowd's bigger than she expected, or gets too rowdy."

"The floor looks like at least five hundred people could be in here!" Kim said in shock, and Shay nodded.

"Official occupancy max is eight hundred, but I doubt she'll see more than two..." Shay paused and considered as she glanced out into the already milling crowd that was enjoying so-called canned music, "Unless this band's more popular than I thought, then maybe five hundred?"

"Well," Ron supplied, "Alex said that they're becoming _real_ popular here in Europe, and that they might get some tour dates in the 'States..."

"Not bad, then..." Shay nodded. They decided to sit down at one of the tables on the floor below the stage. It seemed to be a good decision, because although some of the milling clubgoers came over and talked, and while a few asked for autographs, they were left mostly unmolested. They chatted about various things for a half hour, mostly centered on Yori and Motor Ed at first, but meandering off on random subjects after that.

While they talked, the crowd continued to expand, and Kim guessed Shay's estimate was almost spot on. There was at least four hundred, perhaps as many as four hundred and fifty people in the club as she and Ron were just describing to the older woman their mission against the mad nanny, Nanny Nane. The club lights suddenly went out, startling quite a few of the people on the floor.

"Looks like showtime..." Ron said and stood, pulling Kim up with him. Rufus took position at Ron's shoulder, and looked as excited as Kim did.

Shay joined them, and they all made their way into the middle of the crowd. "So, Princess..." she murmured quietly, "What's this band all about, anyway? They actually German?"

"Yeah..." Kim chuckled, "I know that Alex said the name's not really proper German, and apparently it's intentional, political stuff or something. Basically, though, they're ska punk played with polka instruments..."

"Interesting..." Shay said, her tone indicating that she already knew something about the band. Kim opened her mouth to say just that when the sound of a tuba playing the bouncy 'oompa' of a polka song started playing. She turned her attention back to the stage when other instruments joined the tuba, and then the bassist struck a single low note, allowing it to sustain as the curtain was raised.

As soon as the lights blazed onto the band, the entire nine piece kicked in. Kim heard Shay burst out laughing, but realized it was an appreciative laugh as the band began a punk version of "_Rosamunde_", otherwise known as "Beer Barrel Polka" and "Roll out the Barrel". The musicians seemed to be top notch, and the up tempo melding of the original song with punk went off without a hitch.

The singer was quite deep voiced for a punk singer, and it made the disconnect between the original and the band's version even more stark. Which, Kim realized, was probably the reason. Nonetheless, she found herself joining in on the pogo mosh that started up, and laughed delightedly when Shay and Ron joined in.

She began to slam into Shay, and was ready when the older woman slammed back. This quickly changed the tone of the pit around them, but in a positive way that would have surprised a lot of people. A few of those slammed into were annoyed or outright angered, before realizing the tone of the mosh was all fun, but most began to laugh along with Kim and Shay. Soon, dozens of hands were in the air clapping along to the song, despite the borderline violence of the pit.

After the song was done, the lead singer and, who was the bassist,stepped forward with a huge smile on his face, "_Gutenabend, Liebe-Hass-Liebe!_" he shouted, his baritone voice oozing contentedness. He received an almost instant, positive response from the crowd that bordered on deafening, especially shocking when considering the crowd's size. He continued in almost accentless English, a slightly apologetic look on his face, "I'm under the impression that there's quite a few English speakers in the audience tonight..."

A roar of agreement, and a smirk from the singer, "And I hope no one minds me using that for most of my talk between songs?" Another positive yell, with a few, mostly joking negative replies answered him and his smirk widened, "Well, too bad for you... Three, four?" More laughter and a few more jokingly disparaging replies in German, "But I'm continuing in English... Hey, I have a degree in it that I don't want to waste!"

A smattering of laughter, and he continued, "As the night goes on, I'll introduce more of the freaks up here on stage... For now, I'm Helmut... And no, it's no joke!" He chuckled along with the crowd, "On rhythm and lead guitar are Mark and Marcus... They're brothers, believe it or not..." More laughter, and some chuckling plucks from their guitars, "And on drums, is Angry..." Conspiratorially, he whispered into his mic, "I don't know his real name, but trust me, he is behind the drums!" Angry went into a ten second, complex improv, and Helmut's smirk became positively devilish, "As I was saying, I'm going to speak mostly in English tonight... Except in songs written in German, of course!"

Marcus began a slow pick slide down the length of the guitar's neck, and the Helmut said, "And now... '_Defektestraße_'!"

The main band kicked into an intense, drum driven beat that lasted about twenty five seconds before halting almost completely. The three guitarists fell into what most would consider a 'typical' ska riffing, while Angry, the trumpet, saxaphone, tuba, clarinet and accordion, however, used that beat to fall into a bumpy, bouncy mix of polka and ska, and Helmut began singing. His voice wasn't as low pitched as it had been, but was far from a tenor, and while it seemed friendly and affable, there was an edge underneath it, as if a knife hidden within a teddy bear. The song continued in the vein, fast, driving and hard during the pre-chorus and and chorus, and slowing during verse passages, and Kim found herself duly impressed.

They played a few more songs that were almost pure polka infused ska for their first set. Their second set was more traditional, early eighties hardcore punk rock songs, but they always managed to infuse the backing players into it. The crowd, as most mosh pits do, dropped by about fifty to sixty members at a time, as people went to get air, cool off, or both, before returning to the pit. Between sets, Kim, Ron and Shay compared songs, and Kim seemed surprised that the older woman liked so many of the songs. The former thief assured her that, although she loved her metal, hip-hop and R&B, she still liked punk, especially if it wasn't the radio friendly stuff played on Top-40 stations.

Kim had pouted slightly at that, having gotten into the genre thanks to some of those very bands, but brightened when she realized that she disliked them as much as Shego seemed to. Ron just liked music that was good, though even he admitted to having a soft spot for the lower key, slower songs that ska punk - and in this case, polka infused ska punk - tended to be. On top of it, it, he was more than happy to see a quality band live.

About an hour after the first set began with '_Rosamunde_', all three humans and naked mole rat were sweaty, and decided to take their break between sets. "These guys are seriously slammin'!" Kim enthused, her mane of red-hair half plastered to her head and face.

"I'm impressed," Shay admitted, then found herself the target of a glomp by Kim.

"I _so_ still have to thank you for setting this up, Sheegs!" she whispered, so no one else in the crowd knew the truth behind the impromptu gig.

"No worries, Cupcake..." Shay smirked, looking at Ron, who had a goofy grin on his face.

"Mucho worries, Sheegs..." He chuckled, holding a fist up for a pound, "This is completely badical, y'know?"

"Okay..." Shay finally conceded, returning the pound, "But... It's the least I could do for you two, y'know?" Rufus squeaked, and she shook her head, "Sorry, Bud, you _three_..."

Ron and Kim laughed, and the blond was about to say something when Kim's Kimmunicator went off. "Oh, what now?" she moaned, checking to see who it was.

"That's Wade, but it's playing your ringtone for Will..." Ron said, stopping Kim's hand from accepting the call, "Let me, KP..."

"Okay..." Kim said with a sigh, quickly slipping the device off and handing it to Ron.

The blond looked between them and said, "Be right back..." and walked towards the club doors. Kim and Shay continued to mill about the periphery of the crowd on the floor, until they saw the band coming back on stage. Kim unconsciously grabbed Shay's hand and moved them deftly into the center of the crowd. She noticed the older woman seemed flushed, but attributed it to the stage lights, which were swinging back and forth, announcing the band was coming back to the stage.

A moment later, the lights shone on the stage, revealing the band out and ready to perform. Helmut came to the mic, and called out, "Hey, this is a part of the show where we play some requests..." His voice was full of mirth, "Now, fair warning... We will play our own songs upon request, so long as we haven't played it earlier in the night, however..." He reached down and plucked a rapid fire string of notes, and Kim laughed, recognizing it immediately as one the opening bass line of one of Rancid's songs. "We'd prefer a bit old school, hard and fast, and from the eighties or nineties..."

Immediately, someone from the crowd called out, "Play 'Your Heart Is an Empty Room'!"

"First off..." Helmut growled over the dissatisfied grumbling of the crowd, "I said we'd play a request if it was one of _our_ songs that we _didn't_ play tonight or, and I quote, '...a bit old school, hard and fast, and from the eighties or nineties...' Not shit like that!"

A roar rose up from most of the crowd, and Kim was one of the loudest voices among them. As soon as the crowd's mutual voice died down enough to be heard, she screamed, "'Delirium of Disorder'!"

"And the pretty red-head gets it!" Helmut crowed, giving their sound engineer a signal. The engineer, a man that seemed to know exactly what was called for, fiddled with some dials, and Helmut covered his mouth from the audience. Then he began speaking the electronically slowed and deepened beginning of the song, sounding almost like Bad Religion's album version, "Delirium ..."

Shay glanced over at Kim and said, "Bad Religion, eh?"

Kim glanced back, raising one eyebrow questioningly and dropping the other challengingly, "Doy?"

Helmut continued in his distorted voice again, "Of Disorder..."

Shay smirked at Kim using her personal phrase, and said, "Not bad for pop-punk..."

"Delirium ..." Helmut said again, drawing the word out.

"Pop-punk?" Kim asked with a mild, almost amusedly annoyed growl.

"It's what the experts say they are, Cupcake!" Shay said over Helmut's voice as he continued.

"Of disorder..."

"I'll show you pop-punk!" Kim declared, her voice incensed, but a huge grin on her face.

"Bring it!" Shay laughed.

"Hey!" Helmut called out, and immediately after, a fast, driving punk rock beat blared from the speakers, and Kim's smile got even wider. The playing was perfectly in tune with the album version of the song, and she began to slam dance with Shay in a way only the two of them, and perhaps Ron, could have kept up with. The people around them seemed, almost instinctively, to move out of their way, as if sensing the imminent approach of a pair of predators.

"Life is a sieve through which my anarchy strains, resolving itself into works!" Kim sang in perfect time with Helmut, throwing short elbows, straight punches and knees at Shay. The older woman managed to block each blow with her hands, elbows and knees, but was steadily pushed backwards by the smaller woman. "Chaos is the score upon which reality is written... The timeless, swirling, gyroscopic horde..."

By the end of the the second verse, Kim had managed to urge Shay out of the floor crowd. "Sit down!" Kim cried along with Helmut, a huge grin plastered over her features, slipping into the older woman's reach and placing her hands just above the former thief's hips, shoving her backwards.

"Delirium ..." Kim called as Shay's knees hit an empty chair, and she sat heavily, sliding the folding chair back almost enough to reach the table behind her. If not for the mutual grins on the women's faces, and just who they were, the bouncers would've been on them by that point; as it was, people were staring nervously at the two women, not sure if they were playing, serious, or in the middle of some kind of lover's spat. "Of disorder!"

Kim managed to take in several faces about them in a glance, and the conclusion seemed to be a mix of the foremost and lattermost conclusions. This was only reinforced as she all but straddled Shay's legs and half ground against the older woman. She was still attempting to throw shoulder chucks, elbows and knees into the older woman. The former thief's face face was half down, blocking and watching Kim's every move as the red-head continued through the eight repetitions of the chorus in the fast paced song...

**Author's Notes**

And another chapter down... Ed, goin' straight? Wonder of wonders... And... With Yori... Well... It fits, strange as it sounds, it does... XD

Then some acceptance of some kind from Kim and Shego, and quite a gift... Then there's the moment between Ron and Shego as well, such close friends, after so much past... What's goin' on, y'have t'wonder? And of course, the concert description... And then a call from Kim's dad... And, _wow_, did he make her mad or what? Ya have to wonder just how bad their arguement was... But, then again, there's much left unsaid, 'specially with Shego leaving early, eh?

Of course... Based on the history I've done up here, you can't be surprised that Shego's known at least one stripper, non? And then the whole scene at the club, and it's not done yet...

Anyway, as always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work. As well, remember everyone, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember: if ya like a fic, give the author a review!


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Forward**

Continuation of last chapter, with some Will Du time... As well, as you've noticed, the fic is now "M" rated, the reasons for it are in this chapter... I was trying to avoid it, but as my flow/feel beta pointed out, I had to be rather blunt with my description of certain things within the chapter, and, unfortunately, there's some things that will happen later in the fic that'll require the "M" rating, anyway. Sorry for not starting with "M", but I was honestly trying to avoid it.

As another note, I may be posting a side story for this fic soon describing one of the events mentioned last chapter, but I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know! And now, review replies!

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations... ^_^

Jimmy1201: thanks for the review! And yeah, ya did miss a little bit, since Dr. Drakken's stayed on the straight and narrow with counseling and a good girlfriend... As for Yori, she may have had a license, but it was still their honor to walk; cardiovascular health is _important_ to ninja, after all! And as to the team in Europe... They've already been seen in the fic... ^_^

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Sir!" the young Finnish GJ forensics agent called out, drawing Agent Will Du's attention to her, "I'm sorry, but we have nothing more..."

"Dammit." Will growled under his breath, scowling at the, literally, forensically clean, yet apparently abandoned warehouse in northern Germany. There was nothing there; no dust, no fingerprints, no footprints nor tire tread marks in the accumulated dust in the loading bay, no hair... Absolutely nothing!

"How in th'hell'd she do this?" He turned and stormed back towards the waiting GJ comm. truck, not relishing the reaction to his report from Betty and GJ's governing body. Taking a moment to compose himself and his recently unpredictable accent, he sighed and glanced back at the rather severe looking, mid-thirties brunette, who happened to be the regional head of GJ forensics services, "I presume Mr. Load was unable to find anything, either, Agent Nikula?"

"No, sir." the forensics leader groused, shaking her head wonderingly, "It is more clean than it was on the architect's hard drive."

"I was afraid of that..." Will sighed, grabbing the vertical handrail and preparing to step into the back of the semi-trailer that housed some of the most secure - not to mention advanced - communications gear in the world.

"Agent Du, Agent Nikula!" a young agent of German descent, barely out of college and past his cadet training, called out. The two senior agents returned the man's salute when he stopped short, handing them a print out, "Agent Nikula's suspicions about that one shipping label were correct, but it took Mr. Load some time to find anything useful."

"I see..." Agent Nikula muttered as she and Will put their heads together to look down at the printout, "The ticket must have gotten exposed to some chemical that leached its ink into the label, but made it invisible to the naked eye. It is not much, but the bleed through indicates how they are moving..."

"Yeah..." Will agreed, frowning slightly, "I presume this is a Germany specific train?"

"Yes," Agent Nikula confirmed, cursing under her breath in Finnish, "And a fast one. Depending upon where she and her men got off, she will have had two, perhaps as much as five hours of lead time to go underground..."

"I was afraid of that..." Will chuckled mirthlessly, turning back to the trailer, "What's her destination?"

"At any rate, we _do_ have to report in..." Will said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "But first, I think, we should contact Team Possible and Shego... We'll check with Team Possible via Wade, first, in case Shego's still hanging out with them..."

"Good call, I think..." Agent Nikula shared his chuckle, glancing about, "And after this, I could use a good, strong coffee."

"As could I, Neida," Will sighed, "Know any good coffee shops close by?"

"As a matter of fact..." Agent Nikula smirked, "My wife runs one just down the street from the offices!"

"Thank God for small favors!" Will's chuckle was still restrained, but held some mirth as he nodded to the communications tech, picking up a privacy headset and sitting down at a console with a computer screen angled away from everyone else, "Patch me through to Wade Load..."

"Hello, Will." Wade said with a smile, having finally come to have a measure of respect for the agent, "What's the sitch?"

"As you know, the only thing we found," Will said without preamble, "Is a ticket to Passau... However, I'm uncertain that is their true destination..."

"I agree..." Wade said, signaling someone out of his camera's view. A moment later, Drew was on screen and nodded at Will, who returned the courtesy in kind, "I was speaking with Drew about our suspicions, and he came to the conclusion that her target is either Nuremberg or Frankfurt, but..."

"I'm leaning towards Frankfurt..." Drew said with a grimace, "As Nuremberg has such... Historical significance as the place the Nazis were tried. Not only is it considered one of the few places that has earned respect within the overall villain community... It's considered bad luck to attack the place!"

Will considered their words, and spoke in the tone of someone asking an honest question, not dismissing an idea out of hand, "But Professor Kempinski is not a normal villain..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Will! I forgot to tell you, I had Drew make his suppositions based on if it was a supervillain..." the dark skinned teen began tapping on his keyboard, and a moment later, a picture popped up, "This finished about fifteen minutes ago, I asked Drew a couple minutes later... Do either of you notice something?"

"Neural Compliance Chip." Will and Drew said at the same time, both chuckling at their mutual outburst before Will continued, "Therefore, it's a good possibility that she's being controlled by a supervillain..."

"And therefore, some specific supervillain 'off limits' areas and... Fetishes, if you will, are likely in effect..." Drew nodded, "As such, I have to conclude Frankfurt... Due to the Frankfurter hot dog, Dr. Frank-N-Furter from that one silly movie, as well as its economic and infrastructural importance to Germany..."

"Dammit..." Will sighed, then nodded to Drew, "Thank you, Dr. Lipsky..." He leveled his gaze Wade, "I _hate_ to do this, but need to speak to Team Possible..."

"Already calling..." Wade looked at one of his screens as a blank 'Calling...' dialogue box split the screen, his brow furrowed slightly, before Ron's face came up, the sounds of music barely audible from behind him and getting quieter.

"Let me get to the Sloth, Wade, Will..." Ron grunted. Both nodded at him, then about a minute later, Ron faced them from within the Sloth once again, "Sorry about that, we're at a concert..."

"Sorry to disturb you, Ron..." Will said sincerely, and Ron's face instantly became serious as he noted the worry on the GJ agent's, "We have two potentially troublesome situations develop today..."

"You found Prof. Kempinski?" Ron asked, and Will grimaced.

"Sort of..." Will sighed, "We found her lab, and it was so clean, you could legally serve food on the floor in Washington state..." Ron's eyes widened in surprise, and Will nodded, "As well, we found some information on a possible destination, and..."

Wade took over when Will nodded at him, "She's wearing a Neural Compliance Chip, Ron..."

"Oh, man!" Ron griped, then grimaced himself, "KP and Shego are _not_ going to be happy..."

"Exactly." Will said, "And we believe that her moving tonight indicates the time for her attack is close..."

"What the..." Wade exclaimed, one of his screens flashing alternating yellow and red, while a World War II ship's general quarters alarm sounded from his speaker system, "One second guys..." Wade shut down the alert, and started reading. His face fell and paled, and he re-read what he'd seen, "I got a hit on one of my In-Terror-Net monitoring programs..."

"What's up, Wade?" Ron asked, and Wade shook his head.

"I've got to do some checking..." Wade said distractedly, "This is going to take a while, at _least_ six or eight hours... I'll get back to the both of you ASAP, okay?"

"Keep us posted, Wade." Will said, nodding to the young teen. Then he turned to Ron, sighing, "We might be calling you guys tomorrow or Sunday if we find them..."

"I understand, Will." Ron said with surprising sobriety in his voice, "Hey, Will?" Will cocked his head slightly, "Thanks, y'know... For not being such a stuck up prig lately."

Will chuckled and glanced about. Seeing that some things were still being collated for the call to GJEHQ, he glanced back at Ron, a rueful half-grin on his face, "Not a problem, Ron... Thank you guys for accepting the change as honest... And... Do you got a minute, or d'ya have to go back to the club?"

"I..." Ron glanced at the time on the Kimmunicator he wore, "I have a couple, I guess. Why, what's up?"

"Well, Ah..." Will pursed his lips for a moment, then shook his head as something didn't matter, "Hell, no need t'control my accent rahght now, Ah'm speakin' from th' heart... Ah've got somethin' t'get offa my chest, an' I trust ya..." Ron nodded, and Will began, "First, Ah want t'kinda apol'gize 'bout th' way Ah treated y'all for so long... I was quite th' stuck up ass, wasn' Ah?"

"You were." Ron agreed with a smile, and while Will winced, he nodded.

"Ah was kinna put on a forced vacation, back home t'mah momma an' daddy's ranch near Abilene, Texas..." Will chuckled, "Mah momma inherited it from her daddy, and met mah daddy in college. They were both Ag majors, even though mah daddy's family didn' really wan' 'im goin' inta it, he did."

"Why'd your dad's family not want him in farming and ranching?" Ron asked, his eyebrows screwing up in confusion.

"His daddy was a defector from China back durin' th' Cold War, an' was a farmer ovah there..." Ron nodded in sudden understanding, "An' so of course, he figured that 'is son wouldn' amount t'much... 'Til 'e met momma, an', well... She's half Filipina, half Irish, an' all charm, an' then 'e met my grandpa Seamus, who ended up likin' the hell outta both him _an'_ mah daddy... When grandpa Du saw jus' what kinna family his son was marryin' into, well... Things changed.

"An' Ah'm sorry fo' the life hist'ry, but it's important..." Will chuckled, "Y'see, mah daddy wasn' much for carin' about attitudes, 's long as ya got th'job done, an' didn't cause too many pro'lems... Hardly a temper. Mah momma?" Will winced again, "Let's jus' say, she's a nice Filipina lady, 'til ya get her temper up. An' then ya better hope y'all got a bomb shelter t'hide in..."

"So she saw how you'd turned out..." Ron started, barely suppressing a laugh at what he knew was going to be Will's misfortune.

"Yup," Will nodded ruefully, "Ah was, within a half hour, browbeat outta this funk Ah'd been in fo' 'bout five years..." The agent winced again, "All cause'a fallin' foh a woman, an' kinda goin' stupid when she ended it..."

"Wait..." Ron said, his eyes widening, "You mean to tell me... All that... By the book attitude..."

"Is 'cause Ah got in deep shit with a lady an' my job!" Will said with a chuckle, "Ah screwed up bad enough that th' only reason Ah still had a job was 'cause'a mah scores through th' cadet program, an' th' fact that Ah was one'a th' best recruiters that ol' GJ's evah had..."

Ron shook his head in wonderment, "So, basically... You're a real, regular dude, and when you realized that's what got you into trouble..." Ron chuckled a bit, "You turned into a guy with the broomstick so far up his ass that Steve Barkin would tell you to relax and get laid?"

"Pretty much..." Will said, remembering meeting the big ex-marine, ex-hero on his first mission with Kim, as well as some studies he did a month and a half prior involving the effects of heroism on former soldiers with PTSD. Shaking that thought off, he glanced around again, tapping a series of commands into his terminal. Ron realized that he'd dropped into a circuit that Wade had set up for the two of them. There was a graphic of a naked mole rat in a ninja costume holding one end of a can and string phone to his ear with a chibi Wade on the other end.

Immediately, Will began speaking in a low tone, "Ah also wanted t'know somethin' else..." Ron saw how serious Will was being, and nodded almost imperceptibly, "Ah have some... Suspicions 'bout... Betty... Ah'm not sure, but I think she may've been compromised... Ah don' know foh sure, so I can't say I'm right at this time, but... If worse comes t'worst, can Ah call on y'all, in th' original spirit of th' Kim Possible website... Even if y'all're still on vacation? Ah dunno if Ah'll be able to comp ya foh it like th' mission we might be callin' ya on, but..."

"I'll have to talk to KP, and probably Sheegs if you want her in on it?" Will nodded slightly, and Ron sighed, "Well, 'kay... No promises, but I'll ask, and let Wade know, and he'll get my answer to you."

"That's all Ah can ask..." Will said, tapping a key on his keyboard, and finishing, "Ah... Erm, _I_ will talk to you later, Ron. Thank you for your time."

"No problemo, Will!" Ron said, waving at the screen, "Later!" Inside he was worried, and as he made his way back to the club, he tried to find his center, so he could at least enjoy the rest of the night and, hopefully, the next few days...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

_So that's how it is, eh, Princess?_ Shego thought with a smile as Kim launched into what appeared to be a direct continuation of their sparring match from earlier in the week. At least she'd chosen a song that Shego could appreciate, and had used quite often during her own workouts. She would pace freeform workouts, as well as kenpo katas, kung fu forms and TaeKwon Do patterns to the speed and intensity of it and similarly paced songs.

When the red-head shoved her into the chair and straddled her, Shego had almost burst out laughing. She kept her head down to keep her mirth from being too obvious to the younger woman, but was still able to block Kim's aggressive attempts to land what would be a light blow to her body. The position, while obviously intended as a dominant fighting position, was quite suggestive, and if the eyes they were getting from surrounding patrons was any indication, that's what a lot of people were thinking at the moment.

_She'll be glad no one's violated the 'No cameras or camera phones' rule later!_ Shego thought as the chorus came to an end. She waited until an instant before the last two words of the chorus, then drew her feet behind her and dug the balls of her feet into the ground and raised her head with a look that gave the red-head pause. The expression said, more effectively than words could have, that Shego had Kim right where she wanted the younger woman, especially when she said, "Of disorder!"

With that, she bucked, driving forward with her hips from the balls of her feet. Kim flew back nearly two meters, barely keeping her balance as Shego flew into a skipping backfist towards the younger woman's face. Unlike the red-head, the former thief didn't sing aloud with the band, but her lips could be seen moving in time with the words, even as she spun and thrust blows towards Kim.

Her moves were more overt attacks than what Kim had thrown at her, and she maneuvered the red-head backwards at a faster pace than Kim had shoved her. Nonetheless, her moves were so controlled that those in the pit were safe. As when Kim had pushed her from the crowd, the pit seemed to instinctually part ahead of them; however, almost immediately after they passed the crowd closed up behind them like oil closing back in behind a bar being drawn through it.

Shego had almost lost track of where they were, at least until the red-head slammed into the stage with a loud exhalation of surprise. Shego barely stopped herself from following through with the knee heading towards Kim's midsection, turning the move into more of a body check. She ended up pressed against Kim, her left leg in between the shorter woman's legs. Then the crowd slammed back into them, their proximity to the stage forcing them all into almost traditional slam dance of body checking into each other.

Shego immediately realized just how intimate their position was when she felt Kim's legs stiffen. Worriedly, she glanced down and saw a shocked expression on the younger woman's face, but also... Something more. Much, much more, something that set off alarm bells in her head. The red-head had been excited all day, even after her phone call with her father. Excited, bouncy, bubbly and, if the way she interacted with Ron was any indication, incredibly horny.

The security consultant almost panicked when she realized that Kim seemed to feel the blatantly sexual motion forced upon them by the crowd as much as she did. Even so, Shego was captured by the look in the red-head's eyes, the surprise as it waned, the slight embarrassment and, almost distressingly to Shego, the... Acceptance, even budding desire for it to continue. She placed her hands against the stage as another surge shoved her into Kim, to try and give the younger woman space, _She_ might _want it, but I_ don't _want anything like this forced on her..._

When the heroine's breath hitched, it was almost too much for Shego. She had entertained an occasional sexual thought for Kim over the years, as she did with many attractive men and women she'd met. Hell, she'd had a couple about Kimmie's mother and father after having seen them! Then there was Steve Barkin who, despite being as stuck up as he was, hadn't been exactly ugly. Even Ron - with his seeming determination to be different - had grown on her the same week she'd been stuck as the overly happy Miss Go.

The last week, however, had been... Hard on her, to say the least. She'd woken up a couple times in a sweaty, aroused mess, her dreams' desires about Kim, even a couple times dreaming about Ron! And now... She blinked as she felt Kim's leg snake around the back of hers, an almost pleading look on the red-head's face and in her eyes that quickly changed into an accepting softening of the eyes and a confident, challenging half smirk. Kim pulled herself up and closer, burying her face in the short, thick hair next to Shego's face, calling out just loud enough for Shego to hear, "Don't stop... Unless you don't want to, Shay, _please_ don't stop!"

Shego was shocked at the stridency in Kim's voice, even with the sudden shifting in her attitude, and glanced back down, to make sure Kim was serious. Her eyes widened slightly when she heard Helmut just starting into the final chorus, then widened more when she felt Kim grinding against her... Then, almost as if to spite her brain, her body responded without conscious thought. Her left leg went up on the ball of her foot, her leg moving forward into the stage to give the younger woman a solid foundation. Then she began to rock her hips in time with the heroine's, but subtly, so anyone not concentrating would be clueless as to what was happening.

The song's end approached, and Shego knew that they'd be completely busted if the band stopped, since she felt neither of them would be able to. Then someone far back in the audience screamed, "Holiday in Cambodia!" Part of her felt immensely relieved as the band started immediately into the old 'Dead Kennedys' song; it'd been almost two and a half years since she'd gotten any, and Kim was all but demanding it! She knew she should wait, to make sure Ron was alright with it... But there was something about the situation between the two women and the blond that told Shego that it'd work out in the end.

Then the owner of the voice settled into her mind. _Shit, that was Ron!_ she thought with a brief flash of worry, before realizing he must have seen them. She glanced at Kim, and saw that she was too distracted to have realized who it was. Shego shivered slightly under the serious, intent gaze, but couldn't help but smile. _I hope I'm right about this..._ she allowed one hand to leave the stage and slip behind Kim's back, holding her a bit steadier on her leg, _I mean, yeah, a year ago, I wouldn't have given a damn, but now... Now I don't want to hurt them..._

With that in mind, she continued her grinding, as did Kim. About two thirds of the way through the song, she felt Kim tense, then shudder slightly, a barely audible keen emanating from her lips before she collapsed her head back against Shego's shoulder. The red-head also clenched her leg around the older woman's, stopping any movement, and she wanted to growl, to cry, to scream her annoyance at the petite teen. She needed the release too! But she knew, from various conversations with her and Ron, that Kim was sensitive under normal circumstances, almost as sensitive after an orgasm as a man, and it was even _worse_ after her period... And she figured it was even worse than they'd both implied, with the nearly relentless, month long teasing the red-head claimed Ron had delivered.

_Cold shower, huge reefer, long hot shower with a lot of manual stimulation, or just good old fashion masturbation..._ Shego thought with gritted teeth, then spoke aloud without realizing it, "Or all four..."

"A-all four w-what?" Kim managed with a shuddering breath.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Princess..." Shego chuckled despite her annoyance at the moment.

"Wow..." Kim managed, chuckling, her surprisingly hot breath blowing across Shego's neck and ear making the older woman shiver, "S-sorry 'bout that if you didn't..."

"What'd I say?" Shego snipped, but pulled away so Kim saw the smile on her face, before hugging the girl back to her, "Y'wanna talk about... This, whatever's happening with us?" Kim opened her mouth, her eyes glancing about them, and the pale woman shook her head with a laugh, "I meant later, Cupcake!"

"Probably a good idea..." Kim managed languidly, then the song ended. The crowd's moshing calmed, and they separated slightly. The heroine turned and cheered with the rest of the crowd as the guitarists allowed the last note to sustain.

"Well..." Helmut drew out, chuckling to himself, "Any more requests?"

Shego was opening her mouth to say something when she felt Kim lean back against her, her rear end just high enough after a summer growth spurt to brush up against the older woman's crotch _just_ so... And yet, the red-head wore an innocently enthused look on her face when a German in the crowd screamed, "_Gewalt_!"

"Um..." Helmut raised an appreciative eyebrow, "One moment, I need to see if everyone knows that one..."

"Oh, Chaos Z! If they can play it well, _this_ will _rock_!" Kim crowed, which made Shego even more unsure than she'd already been about the red-head's expression, especially when she turned back around to favor Shego with a mix of excitement and devilish certainty, "Alex plays these guys a lot, they're _slammin''_! And if the band can do it, this song is _fast_!" made the former thief feel a stab of worry that bordered on panic when Kim brushed up against her and let out a husky giggle.

_Don't you dare, you little minx!_ The pale woman barely restrained herself from speaking the concerned but amused thought aloud.

"Ok," Helmet said in a seemingly distracted tone, which turned decidedly aggressive when he growled, "_Gewalt_!" The band kicked into a song just as fast paced as the earlier Bad Religion song, and Kim began to grind back against Shego as if she were _just_ moshing, that big, deceptively innocent smile still upon her face. The mosh pit, if anything, became more frenzied, and the former thief wrapped her arms around the smaller woman's sides, as if to keep her friend from being separated from her.

Kim threw a clenched fist into the air, pumping her arm in time with the music like many at the edge of the stage, and shoved back firmly into Shego with each pump. The older woman groaned as the friction, and Kim's fist matching the tempo, slammed into her almost perfectly; it was all she could do to hold on and not return the grinding. _At least the moshing is sho-..._ "Guh..." the word interrupted her thought as she felt the first, heightening wave of pleasure flow through her, _Shoving me into her..._

She leaned down to bury her face briefly in Kim's hair, taking in the scent of kiwi-strawberry shampoo, as well as the red-head's own, unique scent. Then another wave struck her, and while she managed to keep her second vocalization in, she knew the younger woman had heard or felt the first by the giggles she could feel through her hands on the red-head's stomach.

The song was just about halfway over when she felt the first real waves of her release all but rolling over her. And, just as she was cresting that delicious flow of release, she felt Kim tense ever so slightly. Her arousal dwindled sharply and she moved her head to see the teen's face. While she wanted the release, _needed_ it, she could see the now slightly torn look in the red-head's eyes that something had struck her with worry. She leaned in again, so her lips were buried in red hair and brushing the younger woman's ear, "Princess, if you don't wan-..."

"R-Ron..." Kim managed to stutter, just loud enough for Shego to hear, then, somehow, slid around so her back was again to the stage. "I... God, this is embarrassing... I want this, I _so_ do want this, but... But I want him to know, _need_ him to, before anything more happens..." The words, and what the pale woman saw as she gazed at the red-head made her heart both soar and cringe with worry. There was a slight mistiness in Kim's eyes, as if ashamed... But apologetically so, as if ashamed not that she'd started this, but that she'd stopped... The gaze made so many thoughts and feelings crashing through the pale woman's mind that her head spun.

The temptation to tell Kim that Ron had requested 'Holiday in Cambodia', but the stronger urge to let the red-head decide if she really did want to continue this in a less intense, calmer atmosphere...

Jealousy that Ron had her loyalty, yet pleasure at that same loyalty...

Desire for the petite heroine in her arms, for her touch, that if her friendship did indeed become more that they wouldn't lose that very friendship in the process... Even if she shared Kim, and perhaps even more, with Ron...

Fear that she'd allowed Kim to push herself too far, that she'd somehow pushed the red-head there...

An even greater worry that she was wrong about all the negative, and right about all the positive...

Dread that Ron would either allow it, and allow Kim to slip away from him, or that he'd stand in the way... Or perhaps that he wouldn't, but that his acquiescence would stop _her_ from being with Kim... And, perhaps... That he would stay with Kim, but allow the red-head and Shego to share what they had for each other, without reciprocation...

Finally... Hope... That it would all work out, just as Rufus said it would... Just as that small, but powerful part of her begged to let happen...

"Don't you dare cry, Princess..." Shego shook her head, then leaned in close to Kim's ear again, taking pains to make sure what she was doing looked just like what she was doing: talking. "Please, don't... We both got caught in the moment, and I know you'll talk to Ron about this, right?" The red-head gave a slight nod, and Shego continued, "Promise me... Tonight, you'll talk to him..."

"Promise..." Kim said, her tone chagrined and worried, "I'm... I'm sorry for stoppin-..."

"I've finished myself before, Cupcake..." Shego grinned as she felt a hot blush flashing across Kim's cheek warm hers in return, "So, it's okay... Kim, I promise, it's okay... We can figure out where all... All _this_ is going _later_, right?" Kim nodded and the older woman glanced around as the song finished, and saw that the crowd concentrating on the stage while cheering, and breathed a sigh of relief, "Hey, let's go find Ron, 'kay?"

"Whatever you wanna do, Sheegs..." Kim said with uncertainty in her voice, but still allowed the former thief to drag her along.

"Nah, too easy this time," Shay chuckled, and saw Kim stick her tongue out at her. She chuckled, especially when she noticed how determined the red-head seemed, and relaxed significantly. _Thank God... Looks like she_ is_ gonna talk to Ronnie, I don't think I could handle not knowing for sure..._ A moment later they were outside and saw Ron checking something on the Kimmunicator.

"Hey, guys!" Ron said, a smile on his face.

"Hey, Ronnie!" Shego replied in return, a bright smile on her face.

"Hi, Ron..." Kim called out as well, her tone suddenly bashful.

"That was quite an interesting way to slam dance, you two..." Shego chuckled, and glanced at Kim, who blushed and opened her mouth to say something, but Ron interrupted, "Hey, KP, don't worry about it, 'kay? Remember our conversation in Denver?" Kim nodded, and Ron reached out to cup her cheek, "Then let's just go with that, 'kay?"

"Okay." Kim nodded, and then glanced at Shego, "Um... Sorry for..."

"Uh-buh-buh-buh..." Shego held up a hand, waggling a finger at her, "Stop right there Princess. I said it was okay, and you two're gonna talk about it later..."

"Yeah..." Kim sighed, shaking her head with a rueful smile, "Sorry for seeming so drama, I just... I didn't think that'd happen, and..." Kim shook her head again, "I'll stop worrying about it!"

"Good!" Ron chuckled, ushering them towards the club's entrance, "'Cause we have autographs to get from the band!"

"Oh, Ronnie..." Shego nodded at the device Kim was wrapping back around her wrist, "What'd Willie want?"

"We might have some problems..." Ron supplied with a troubled face, "Prof. Kempinski has a Neural Compliance Chip..." Kim growled slightly, and Shego snarled, her hands flaring up briefly before a calming hand from her friends on her shoulders made her look at them. With a sigh and a calming breath, she doused her plasma and nodded for Ron to continue. "Will has a couple leads, and Wade's checking something, but won't know anything for six or eight hours at least, and that's with his skills..." Kim and Shego stared at him slightly askance, and Ron nodded seriously, "Will also said we might get called tomorrow or Sunday."

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

_Face it, Shego..._ the pale woman thought as she stared up into the cloudy, rainy night sky over Munich, _You've pretty much screwed yourself once again!_ She sighed and took one last toke on the joint she'd wrapped back at the club, having begged off a few minutes to chat with her old friend, Sarah. She'd found the woman still had good taste in weed, and a nice stash of sticky, potent smelling _Sativa_ strain, perfect to calm the racing thoughts the pale woman had been feeling since what happened in the mosh pit.

While she hadn't wanted to cut Rufus out of the toking, tonight she just needed to be alone, with her thoughts. So she'd gone back out, going to her preferred souvenir stand to buy the mug she bought every year she came to the 'Fest... And come back up to the roof, to chill and smoke a couple joints, to hopefully calm her mounting anxiety... Or at least help her work out what she should do!

_She's just so... So damn _cute_!_ she sighed out the breath she'd been holding for nearly thirty seconds, with barely a puff of white smoke coming from her mouth. _And Ronnie was fine with it, and probably wouldn't mind joining in... Hell,_ I_ wouldn't mind if he joi-... Dammit!_

Groaning in annoyance as memories of the club came unbidden into her mind, she closed her eyes. At least, with her eyes closed, she could remember it clearly. Quickly enough, she phased out the fact that she was on the roof of the Hausmann Suite's restaurant, under a cloudy sky, with her back on a recently drizzeled upon hood vent cover. Instead, she pictured herself behind Kimmie, her hands on the younger woman's waist, hundreds of bodies behind her, slamming them together with abandon. She remembered feeling the supple muscles of her abdomen, the firm, shapely ass pressing into her crotch, the scent of kiwi and strawberries...

Her hands began to roam over her body as the scene in her mind changed to their shared suite's bathroom. She felt Princess' body pressing against her as it had been during the first requested song, but pictured her nude, with water spraying off of her petite, tightly muscular body. In short order, her right hand slipped past the still open buttons of her shirt, sliding under the bra to cup a breast, while its compatriot opened the button of her jeans and slid the zipper down. As her fantasy developed further, she slipped a hand down beneath the boyshorts she'd worn that day, her breath hitching as she felt her own heat.

_I so wish I could just... Just try with Princess, even just once..._ Slow, practiced movements increased her arousal quickly, and she found herself at the exact point she'd been in the club when Kim had balked at her own actions with Shego. The pale woman didn't begrudge the heroine her actions, however. It was probably for the best to at least wait, if not stop altogether. _I don't wanna lose what we_ do _have, but... I..._

Despite her own thoughts and worries, the fantasy continued to evolve. In the fantasy she let her mind conjure up, her fingers were performing on Kimmie what she was doing to herself. Then, unexpectedly, that same place in her mind made her all but feel two arms carefully encircling her body, the two rather large hands that cupped her breasts with a tender caress...

"Ughu... Gahd..." Shego's broken groan was animalistic, primal as her release washed over her. After she recovered, she removed her hands from where they'd been - although she let herself savor a lingering touch to her rock hard nipple - zipped and buttoned her pants, and sat up. She absently wiped a hand on the underside of a leg, before making sure her breast settled back in its proper place in the bra and that her sweater was mostly back in its proper place. She could still feel her wetness, a far different sensation than the water slowly soaking her shoulders and rear end, the heat she radiated and the light tremors still wracking her body.

"Oh..." Shego realized, in that instant, what the end of that fantasy meant. Where her mind was going. Granted, she'd been thinking about it, off and on, especially after that crafty little pink rodent had started talking to her, but... She hadn't had an orgasm _that_ intense since she'd been with Harl-... _Oh, Jesus, no..._ She covered her face with her hands as the thought rolled over her, and then dropped them to her hips in defeat; after all, she'd _never_ brought _herself_ off that hard in her _entire life_! And all it took was imagining Kimmie and...

"Oh, Shit..." she moaned softly, cutting the line of thought off before it could fully begin. Yet despite the worried look she knew was in her eyes, a silly grin lit her face, "If that's what I'm starting to feel... Dude... I'm _so_ screwed..."

She pondered another moment or two, before looking up into the clouds above her, whispering, "But... I know what I'm starting to feel for Princess, and I _know_ I will not break them up... But... If he's okay with it, I do want Kimmie, _so_ friggin' much..." She sighed and glanced down and back to her right, where she knew the suite she shared with Kim and Ron was. "I just... I don't know if I could, with Ron... I mean... I know I could handle a threesome, but..." She sighed, closing her eyes against her worry, "I _know_, I can _tell_... Hell, Kimmie's all but said that he doesn't _do_ 'just sex'... But... God, I don't want to hurt them, but I just don't know if I could..."

Slipping off of the hood vent shroud, she made her way back to the elevator, and while awaiting its arrival, she leaned forward, resting her head against the steel panel above the call button, "So... Maybe... If she wants to, I could, with Kimmie... But more?"

The elevator dinged, and she sighed, standing back and entering the empty elevator car with one last, whispered, "I don't know..."

The elevator dinged at their floor and Shego trudged along the hallway, her mind occupied. When she got to the door, she heard giggling, and hesitated to open it. _Quit being such a coward!_ she yelled at herself, _They're a couple_ already_, if they're on the couch screwing around, they're on the couch screwing around! If they are, just to to bed, or better yet, find a nice spot to kick back, watch and enjoy, you silly bitch!_ Sighing at her self directed viciousness, she opened the door, and was presented with a sight she hadn't exactly been expecting.

"Oh, 'ey ther' Shay..." Kim drawled out in a slow, drawn out manner. She was holding a flat bottomed whiskey glass half filled with a dark caramel colored liquid. Glancing at the arrowhead arrangement of whiskey glasses, the one Euro coin in Ron's hand, the six empty sample bottles, a mostly untouched pint bottle of bourbon and and a half empty bottle of something she couldn't see the label of, she realized that Kim and Ron were playing some variation on quarters. And if Kim's languid pose, versus Ron's more sober, upright pose were any indication, the blond was winning.

"Hey there, Princess..." Shego managed a light chuckle as she walked over to the table, "Ronnie... Where's Rufus? I figured he'd be all over this..."

"He w's watchin' TV, but 'e's crashed out..." Kim supplied, pointing towards the couch, "We got 'im 'is blanket fr'm th' Sloth, 'e looks _so_ cute right now..."

"I'm sure..." Shego tittered slightly, then nodded at the table, "What ya playin'?"

"A game kinda like quarters, but with a one Euro coin, and set rules..." Ron said clearly, "If ya miss, ya drink a shot of your opponent's choice. If ya make it, your opponent drinks that one and refills it. If ya bounce the Euro completely off the table, you drink two shots of your opponent's choice."

"I see..." Shego smiled languidly as she stepped up next to Kim, picking up the bottle and glancing at Ron, "Dude... Ninety proof rum?"

"Yeah," Kim answered with a giggle, "Id's _really_ good shtuff, too..." She leaned into Shego and put an arm around her waist, splaying her hand out along the front of the former thief's hip, as if to help her balance. The older woman jumped slightly and turned such that Kim's hand now rested slightly to the rear of her left hip, staring down at the twinkle eyed, yet innocent gaze in her jade green eyes, "Y'wanna play, Sheegs?"

"I don't know..." Shego drew out, planning on teasing the red-head into begging her.

"Awww..." Shego wasn't disappointed when Kim began a mild version of her puppy dog pout, raising her other hand up to place it slightly to the rear of her right hip, "Pweese, Shay?"

"I'm already a bit out of my mind, Princess..." Shego started, glancing from Kim to Ron. She stopped with a hitch in her breathing when she felt Kim tighten her grip and plant a wet, noisy kiss between her belly button and the button to her hip hugger jeans.

"Pwetty pweese?" Kim continued, drawing Shego's eyes back to see the red-head wearing an expression that was somewhere between honestly pleading and lascivious.

"Kimmie?" Shego squeaked, again glancing at Ron, who seemed interested in the pale woman joining them. She chuckled when the blonde, distracted by Kim's antics, missed his shot. Kim turned her head slightly and indicated a bottle of bourbon, and Ron poured himself a shot and took a long sip from it, obviously never having tasted it before. Wincing slightly at the burn and bitterness, he let out a long sigh, and began to work himself up into taking the full shot. Shego shook her head and shrugged before looking back down at the red-head, "Um... Sure?"

"Thank you!" Kim smiled up at her brightly, still holding onto the older woman to plant another kiss, this one just above the beltline and halfway to Shego's hip, murmuring in the manner of someone speaking without meaning to, "Mmmm... You smell good..." Ron almost choked on his shot of bourbon, trying not to laugh at Shego's expression.

"Laugh it up, Sport!" she half growled, gently extricating a now blushing Kim's grasp and picking up the Euro coin. "Kimmie, you can be so silly..." she chuckled, patting the heroine's head fondly before walking around to the head of the table to stand behind Ron, preparing her shot. The blond teen quickly shot his bourbon, coughing slightly and wiping his lips before glancing to Shego. The older woman leaned against his back, making sure to rub her breasts into his back as if she were trying to settle them comfortably against him. She made sure to lean down so that her lips were next to his ear, but on the side opposite of the red-head. As she prepared to line up her shot, she whispered too quietly the still blushing Kim to hear, "I'll have you know, I finished what _she_ started at the club not long ago... And my hand was _soaked_ when I brought it out, sliding it _right_ along the spot she just kissed..."

"Er... Oh, um..." Ron began blushing brightly, but his worried, post-bourbon grimacing face brightened into his normal, goofy smile, and he whispered back, "That's actually _really_ hot, Sheegs..."

Shego smirked and bounced the Euro off of the tablecloth covered table, her shot just strong enough to bounce up over the rim of the first glass and plop in, "And it looks like you get another shot of bourbon, Ronnie!"

"Oh, man!" Ron complained jokingly, earning a giggle from Kim at the comment, "That stuff's _harsh_..."

"Eh, it grows on ya..." Shego drawled, winking at Kim, "Just like some other ideas, eh, Kimmie?" The heroine nodded with the vigor only the inebriated could at Shego's question, looking quite pleased with herself...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Ron whistled a jaunty tune as he rode the elevator up to their floor. He'd been in a good mood all morning, despite a mild hangover. _Never thought I could drink_ that _much..._ he chuckled, ruining the whistling, but not caring. There was only one other person in the elevator, and he was whistling from time to time himself, so it was all good.

After all, it was Oktoberfest, and the prior night had been beyond badical! Not only had he gotten a chance to see his amazingly, badically beautiful girlfriend all but having sex with the equally beautiful Shay... Not only had said other woman respected their relationship enough to wait on going for more... But he and Kim had had the best sex they'd had in their entire relationship! Of course, before they'd gotten to it, the three of them had shared a nice, if drunken, chat about what was happening between Kim and Shego... And he and Kim had continued with some of their own concerns after the two of them had shared their bodies with each other. But, the overall consensus was quite positive, from what he could tell!

"Good night?" the man standing next to him asked. Ron glanced over, taking in the executive style dress suit, tailored to hide some the man's obviously muscular build, yet allow enough through for him to appear athletic and healthy, the briefcase, and the expensive, but sensible loafers quite a bit like the ones Ron wore. His eyes trailed up to the man's face, and saw a well kempt moustache and goatee, but bald head. He had a round, pleasant face, intense but open blue eyes, a large, very Irish nose, wide cheeks and a narrow, almost graceful chin and jaw. Ron chuckled again and and merely nodded. "Gotta love Oktoberfest..." the man chuckled, "Not many places you can mix business, pleasurable drinking, great food... And potentially a lot more in one place!"

"It's not bad at all..." Ron agreed affably, and the man glanced over at him, his eyes widening slightly.

"You're Ron... Strap-... _Stop_pable, right?" the man's eyes went wide when Ron smiled and nodded, but then narrowed, and then flew wide again, and he shook his head with a teasingly jealous gleam in his eyes, "As my wife is fond of saying: 'Lucky bastard...'"

"You have _no_ idea..." Ron smirked, one that bordered on looking as smug as any Shay had ever used, and he went back to whistling. He stopped and raised an eyebrow as a picture of Team Possible, obviously printed from the website, appeared in front of him, and he saw that the man had a nervous grin on his face.

"My daughter... Hell, the whole family are huge fans, we love what you guys on Team Possible do for everyone! Anyway, my daughter saw a video on the 'net of you guys helping with that wreck last week, and saving Mrs. Hausmann's life..." he explained, "So, since I'm here working out some aspects of a few agreements for DeMenz Gruppe, I printed this out from your site down in the business center, kinda hoping to run into one of you..."

"Tell ya what, guy," Ron smiled, taking the photo quality print from the man, "Tell me your room, or give me a business card if you can, and I'll get KP and Rufus to sign it for ya, too, and leave it at the front desk when we head out for the 'Fest today..."

"That..." the man blinked, then smiled gratefully, "That would be great! Chisholm Ring, room twelve-oh-four." He held out his hand to Ron after giving his name, and Ron accepted the proffered hand.

"I've heard of you..." Ron said as he let go, cocking his head in thought. He snapped his fingers, smiling at the man, "That's right, you and my dad keep bouncing near the top for Actuary of the Year!"

"Wait..." Chisholm said, "Gene Stoppable is your dad? Wow, I should have realized, I mean... Stoppable's a rare name and all, but I never thought..." He shook his head and chuckled, "Sorry, wow, sweet, man! He's an amazing actuary... So's my wife, she's always up there, too..."

"He's said the same thing about you and your wife." Ron nodded, shaking his head, "Small world..."

The elevator dinged on Chisholm's floor, and the older man chuckled, "Yes, indeed..." He extended a hand again, "Nice meeting you, Ron... And thanks."

"No problemo, Mr. Ring, take care!" Ron said before the elevator doors closed. He wore a huge smile, always pleased to meet people. The elevator ride to their floor was over a moment later, and he walked down the hall to their suite, precariously balancing polyurethane 'to go' boxes in his hands as he fished the room's keycard out of his pocket.

Ron opened the door and slipped in, rebalancing the to go boxes and letting the door close as quietly as he could with his hands full. He took a glance around the room to decide where to place the boxes when he felt that something was a bit off. He glanced around the room, all of his experience as a hero and training as a ninja kicking in as they had been more often than not lately. _Where's KP and Shego?_ he wondered, before setting about to quickly study the room. The blinds were open in the den area, as were the bedroom doors, and he saw nothing wrong in either place.

Then his eyes fell to the suite's table, where he was briefly distracted from his worry. _We drank_ that _much last night?_ he mused with a mental snigger, _No_ wonder _KP still seemed half drunk this morning!_ That's when he noticed the first thing out of place: the bottles had company this morning! Sitting next to them was a purple duffle bag with black piping, the one they carried their swimsuits and 'just in case' set of mission gear - among other, more embarrassing items – next to a similar one that was black with green piping. Then he saw a sticky note stuck to the table between the bags, creased along the sticky strip to stand up on end with Kim's handwriting on it.

He smiled and relaxed further, walking over to read the note set between the two duffle bags. He relaxed fully when he walked close enough for the sound of the shower running in the bathroom to reach his ears. Looking at the note, he realized that both of them had written part of it, and he found himself chuckling at how cute it was as he read the note. Kim's smooth cursive was smaller, and she had a tendency not to emphasize anything, while Shego's was a flowing, almost fancy script that had lines under things she wanted emphasized, and was teasing.

_-Ronnie,_

_Since you said you'd be out for a couple hours, and Harry called Shay to ask for the do-jang's owner if we could come by for some class assist, we went out for a bit._

_We'll also get a bit of sparring in, and then we plan on stopping down at the pool to unwind for a bit._

_We should be back around 11:05. Love you! XOXOXO_

_-Your KP. And Shego!_

He shook his head, chuckling again until he heard a loud thump from the bathroom. Glancing quickly at the clock, he saw that it was 11:14 AM, so that should be Kim or Shay. He shrugged, walking back towards the desk to move the to-go boxes and coffee to the table, when he heard another thump from the bathroom.

That thump was soon followed by three more in rapid succession and what sounded like KP muttering sharply. A relieved sounding giggle and Shay's voice, slightly strained, filtered through the door. "Did KP slip or something?" he asked quietly, frowning slightly.

After a moment of indecision, he turned and made his way to the bathroom. As he did, he unconsciously fell into a stance and movement method that allowed him to glide in a stealthy, almost-slide with his feet, holding them scant millimeters above the short, close pile carpet. When he got closer, he realized that the door was cracked open slightly. _Must be how I heard them, I guess they left it cracked so they'd hear me when I got back…_ he mused before calling out lightly.

"Ladies?" He received no response for a few seconds. Frowning again, he eased the door open further but stayed out in the main room, his attention firmly fixed on the doorknob before calling out again, "KP, Sheegs?"

Again receiving no answer beyond another thump, this one more subdued, he was struck with consternation. _I hope they haven't continued their sparring match!_ Fearing that was the case, he fully stepped inside the bathroom and opened his mouth to speak. Not seeing the two women, he glanced around the room and towards the enclosed shower…

Only to freeze in his tracks, eyes and mouth opened wide in shock by the sight just visible through the steam clouded glass door. Kim and Shay were in the shower together, leaning towards each other!

Kim's head was tilted to the left, and her hands were held as if she'd just been trying to look at the already fading bruise that was visible from the left side of Shay's jaw and obviously spread around to the right. _Did she slip?_ Ron wondered, then noticed that there was a streak of still dissolving body wash going up the slightly curved side of the shower and shook his head with a fond smile.

Then he caught how Kim's jade green eyes were no longer on the bruise, but staring intently at Shay's lips, and she was slowly leaning towards the former thief. The former thief's own verdant eyes were wide, seeing nothing but KP's eyes as the red-head leaned in towards her.

The first things that struck him about the scene surprised him; they were, after all, the _last_ things he expected to notice _first_ in a situation like this!

How Shay's new hairstyle, the shorter cut that hung just below chin level, looked even sexier when wet and plastered against her skin than dry...

How the minty, tea green of her skin seemed to complement, rather than conflict, with the pale peach of KP's...

How the milk white of Shay's one piece swimsuit matched the former thief as well as KP's deep blue matched her...

Then he realized how KP's naturally dusky lips were strangely more noticeable than Shay's black stained lips, even after Shay nervously licked hers, Then the red-head leaned forward as if in a trance. He blinked almost in time with KP as she quickly pulled back to blink herself, then glanced up at Shay questioningly. She whispered something inaudible to Ron over the rushing water of the shower and the pounding of his own pulse in his ears.

Whatever Kim had said made Shay's eyes crinkle, and she shook her head as if disbelieving, or even saddened by what Kim had told her. She opened her mouth to say something, but didn't, and instead bit her lip timidly. _I never thought I'd see Shay of all people nervous about... Whatever's happening between them!_

The thought was almost absent, floating around with thoughts such as how hot they looked together, and how the water sliding between the former thief's breasts was not as distracting as he thought it'd be. He perceived more than saw Shay's hands, acting seemingly without thought, rest gently on the uppermost curve of Kim's hips, right where they met her waist before sliding slightly back, as if her hands were unsure whether to rest fully on the heroine's firm rear or not. And, unusually he realized, that it didn't take his attention away from the scene, but enhanced it.

Kim whispered something else, and whatever she saw in the former thief's eyes was enough of an answer to draw a soft, angelic smile to her lips and the slightest of nods. Shay's brows drew close in an agitated fashion, and she opened her mouth to… Draw a breath? Say something? None of them would ever know, as his fiancée ran the tips of her right hand, ever so softly, from Shay's chin to the angle of her jaw.

The former thief, whether by choice or by shock from the gentle, intimate gesture, relaxed and let her lips and eyes slide closed. Then, resting her right hand on Shay's shoulder, Kim slowly shut her eyes and crossed that last, bare gap between them. Their lips brushed against each other, before the red-head separated for the briefest of moment, tilting her head to the left. She whispered another few, inaudible words to the former thief and cupped her cheek with her right hand, her left moving between the taller woman's right arm and snaking up to rest gently on her neck.

The words, whatever they'd been, made Shay's eyes fly wide open as Kim leaned in once again and sealed their mouths together in a gentle, yet passionate kiss. For several seconds, the pale woman just stood there, as if rooted in place by shock; the expression on her face was like a deer in headlights, and Ron could tell she was stuck trying to decide whether to run or stay there and enjoy it. _Don't run, Shay!_ Ron yelled encouragingly in his head, _It'll just hurt you _both_, trust me!_

Shay blinked and winced slightly, almost as if flinching away from Kim. Ron opened his mouth to say something, knowing it'd be a mistake but not wanting to see the hurt he saw beginning to cloud in the red-head's eyes intensify. Luckily, Shay saw it too, and leaned back, capturing Kim's lips with hers, and returned to the kiss with a startling fervor.

Kim seemed surprised that Shay had come back in, but quickly relaxed, closing her eyes and allowing the kiss to wash over them. Ron almost sighed in relief at the sight; he'd seen how things were going, and as much as he loved Kim, he wanted her happy, even if that meant she needed someone other than him... Or - as it seemed in this case - in addition to him. Of course, if that meant more of what he was witnessing would happened, he wouldn't complain. Seeing the two of them kiss was just...

"Amazing..." he whispered. He had the briefest surge of panic when he heard his own voice, but, luckily in his opinion, it was drowned out by the water and the emotions he could almost physically feel from the two women. In fact, he was feeling most of them himself, and knew by the stirring he felt down below he'd be sitting when he got into the den of the suite. But for now, he stood there, transfixed by the beautiful scene before him, and drank it in.

Kim's hair, slicked down by the water and flowing down her back like a fall of molten fire...

How Shay's hair drew the eye to follow the delicate line of her jaw, to her full lips...

How, with each movement, their muscles would bunch and relax. The movement was enticing as it was hypnotic as both of Kim's arms slid down Shay's front, brushing every so slightly around the outside her full breasts before slipping behind her back, pulling the older woman to her. Then the pale woman's arms slipped around the smaller woman's back, hands resting tentatively upon the upper curve of Kim's rear end. Their bodies pulled back from each other, and they tilted their heads the opposite way, and that's when Ron saw something that should have made him jealous, perhaps even angry, but only made him feel... Pleased, happy, perhaps even jubilant!

He noticed how he could just make out Shay's hardening nipple. The fabric of her suit was soaked through and through, and as he watched, the deep green of her nipple and areola rapidly contracted and pulled in, coming to a tight - and if he had to guess, very sensitive - bud. He knew from personal experience that Kim's nipple and areola were as large as the older woman's, but in proportion to breast size, his fiancée's were larger.

He glanced over at Kim in that few seconds of open space and saw she was already fully aroused. The one breast he could see showcased her nipple prominently; it stood proudly from her breast, as if to declare the woman it belonged to was unafraid for the world to know her state. Ron licked his lips, knowing that as dusky as her lips were, her nipples were an even deeper, almost burgundy color which the blond teen loved immensely. _God..._ he almost gasped aloud when he realized his own aroused state, _I never thought a _kiss_ could be so friggin' hot!_

He swallowed as Shay's hands hesitantly reached down, caressing Kim's taut rear with the gentlest of touches. The red-head let out a barely audible, pleasured mewl, and the older woman gave a slow, firm squeeze. Ron almost chuckled, knowing from personal experience just how sensitive that very shapely behind was, and what was likely coming. His fiancée didn't disappoint.

Kim half moaned, half growled into the kiss, pulling the taller woman tighter to her and falling back into the rear corner of the shower. She brought a leg up and around the former thief's leg, her hips bucking and letting out a breathless gasp when her core met the firm thigh. Ron began to back out, as quietly as his training allowed, but kept his eyes focused on the women in the shower. He could almost feel the heat radiating from his fiancée, and understood Shay's reaction an instant later.

"Goddamn..." Shay grunted out as that very heat slid along her thigh. She leaned down and planted a quick series of intense kisses from Kim's ear to the junction of her shoulder, reaching a hand up to rest tentatively at the strap of the red-head's one piece.

"Mmm-hmmm..." Kim moaned when Shay gave a gentle, questioning tug to the strap, "T-that's fine..." Her tone was not that of someone unsure, but someone so turned on their tongue was having trouble with words. The pale woman began to chuckle, just getting into the action, when she gasped as Kim's roaming hands found her rear end and gave an aggressive, but surprisingly soft squeeze.

The squeeze brought a shockingly girlish squeal from the older woman, and the red-head managed to pull back enough to titter and huskily coo, "Gentle enough?"

"You are _such_ a tease, Princ-umph! Mmmm..." was the last thing Ron heard clearly as he backed out of the room, being extra careful as he closed the door.

He was trying to leave it at the exact point he'd opened it to, when a tired Rufus, who was busily rubbing post-sleep gunk from his eye, squeaked, "G'd mo'nin'!"

Ron jumped as if shocked on the rear by a cattle prod. His hand, which had been on the doorknob, was flung forward, slamming the door shut firmly and almost jamming his wrist. "Rufus!" he complained, staring at his friend with a mix of total distress and worry, "KP and Shay were makin-..."

That's when he heard a startled, "Eeep!" emanate from the bathroom, and Rufus covered his mouth in surprise.

"Sowwy!" Rufus finally said, his tone and eyes filled with consternation, not having realized what was going on, and not wanting to cause any potential issues with his friends' relationship... Or his plan, for that matter!

"It's okay, buddy..." Ron sighed, shrugging. Making an audible show of opening the door a crack, he called out, "Ladies, I have returned... With breakfast!"

He glanced in the bathroom, and barely hid a smile as a deeply flushed, and still obviously aroused Shay popped her head and upper torso out of the shower to glare at him. "Thanks, Ronnie, we noticed!" she snapped with a glare, her tone somewhere between angry and frustrated. He opened the door slightly more when he saw she was still in her bathing suit, not realizing he was going to be busted doing so. He almost gulped when the former thief glanced down towards his feet, then back up at his guileless eyes and _her_ eyes narrowed appreciably.

"The boxes'll be on the table..." Ron said, barely keeping a smile off of his face as he heard Kim giggling in the shower, then called out, "Take your time, ladies..."

"Right..." Shay's eyes narrowed further, and Ron could have sworn he'd seen a flash of red-hair, soft peach skin, the maroon of a hardened nipple and... A swimsuit off of the upper half of an athletic body.

"Hey, you're rig-..." was the last Ron heard, in Kim's voice, before closing the door.

"I think I'm busted, Buddy..." Ron moaned softly as he glanced down at the floor, and saw a perfectly reproduced size twelve shoeprint... That was soaked into the light colored carpet by the bathroom door. "I didn't even see the water on the floor in there!" he moaned in consternation, wincing when he heard giggling coming from Kim. He had to wonder if maybe he was wrong, but shook his head with a worried sigh, _Well, if I'm gonna go out, what better way to go?_

"It'll be okies!" Rufus suggested as Ron came back to the table, and went about helping his human set out plates for the ladies whenever they finished. He set the to go boxes on the plates, and silverware beside them, then went about emptying his and Rufus' boxes onto their plates. He went to the wet bar and grabbed some orange juice, pouring three full glasses and a shot glass for Rufus, before sitting at his place and waiting.

The wait wasn't long, and just over seven minutes later, the bathroom door opened. Ron nearly dropped the container of orange juice when Kim came out, carrying her swimsuit and the clothing she was going to wear for the day in her hands... And no towel around her body.

"Hey, Ronnie..." Kim purred at him, and Ron somehow managed to set the orange juice down in a controlled manner. Then he gave his fiancée a once over, and realized what she must have been doing the last five minutes, as her mons pubis was mostly bare, except for the close trimmed, stylized 'KP' just above the top of her now smooth slit.

"H-holy shit..." Ron choked out, shocking both himself and Kim with his comment. He blushed slightly as he tore his gaze back up her body to look her in the eyes, swallowing slightly before adding, "That's... That's hot, KP... But, um..."

"Shay suggested the letters..." Kim pointed behind and to her left, her smirk matching the one worn by Shay as she stepped beside the red-head in her own nude glory. The red-head flushed, and it was only partially in embarrassment, "And may have helped a little bit like I helped her?"

Ron swallowed again at that, squirming slightly in his chair, before smiling nervously, "Um... Sheegs, KP... Um..." He blinked several times, staring at the stylized 'S' - that included a few flames trimmed into it - above _Shay's_ smooth slit. He also noticed that, unlike Kim, who had the rare instance of her pubic hair matching her scalp hair, the older woman's was _lighter_, a slightly iridescent green visible within the raven black. Finally, he trailed his gaze lingeringly up her firm body, noticing that her nipples were still hard, and she had the slightest note of tension in her shoulders before looking her straight in the eye. Swallowing again, he finally managed to squeeze out, "Wow..."

Kim glanced over at Shay, smiling at her, "Think we broke him?"

"Dunno..." Shay snickered, sauntering over to the table with a very noticeable sway in her hips, before leaning down to rest her elbows on the table, her full breasts resting on her arms, "How ya feelin', Sport?"

"Um..." Ron had followed every step, and he looked over at Kim, half wondering if she'd be okay with Shay's nude form being so close to him. When he saw no condemnation in her eyes, he glanced back at the older woman and said, in a voice so steady and clear it shocked him, "I'm fine, just living a fantasy of seeing the two most badically hot, beautiful women in the world naked at the same time after..." He gulped again, then slowly let out a breath, "After trimming each other..."

He paused, gauging their reaction. Kim had been staring at him with a cocked eyebrow and a concerned twist of the lips; that changed instantly when a smile bloomed across her face, complementing the devilish smirk Shay wore. Feeling he was relatively safe, he went on as calmly as he could, "And I just saw them making out in the shower on top of it! How do you think I'm doing?"

"Hmmm..." Shay pondered jokingly, before standing up in such a way that her breasts bounced and swayed slightly, "I'd have to say pretty friggin' good..."

"Yup!" Ron chirped, and glanced at Kim, who still had a ghost of worry in her eyes. He stood and walked over to her, placing his hands on her cheeks and favoring her with a completely serious expression, "KP, it's alright... I'm totally fine with what I saw and whatever happened - or happens in the future - that I _didn't_ see... Okay?"

"You sure?" Kim asked, her bravado from a moment ago slipping a little more than she'd obviously intended, if the glance towards Shay was any indication, "I know we talked, but I still worry... Ron, I love you, and I don't want to risk... Us... But, I've never... I mean, a couple times, I might've thought about, y'know... With a woman, but..."

"You never planned on it being with Shay, or for us, and especially you, enjoying her company as much as we have?" Ron smiled and leaned in to give her a quick peck on the lips, "As much as _you_ have?" Kim swallowed and murmured a barely recognizable agreement, and Ron spoke again, drawing her attention back to him. "KP.. Kim... You weren't planning on keeping this a secret, right?" Kim shook her head wordlessly with startling vigor, and opened her mouth to speak. She stopped when Ron's smile brightened almost like a sun shining in the room, "Then just promise to keep being open with me and it'll all be good! I'm not an idiot! Like I said back in Denver, I _won't_ let you go, I _won't_ push you away... But I will add, I _won't_ do those things... _Unless_ you really, _really_ need me to... But, if you're honest with me, you won't lose me..." Ron assured her as firmly as he could, "I promise, I'm always yours, as long as you want me, need me and desire me being with you..."

"Same with me, Ronnie..." Kim promised, before glancing over at Shay, sharing a smile with her that held secrets, then back at Ron. She cocked her head, her eyes crinkling in thought as she stared at him, "Ronnie... If... Is it okay if, I mean, as long as I tell you about the general things, that I don't tell you _everything_, at least... Um, at least not right away?"

"Sure, KP..." Ron agreed, "Hell, you didn't even have to tell me about the kissing and making out right away... I mean, if I hadn't seen you two this morning, y'know? Of course, I'd like to see..." He paused, screwing his face up slightly, "I mean, watch... Wait... Well, y'know, I'd like to, but if I _do_ see you and you deny it, it'll be a problem... Well, duh, you wouldn't do that, right?"

"Ronnie..." Kim said with a soft laugh, placing a finger against his lips, "I know what you're trying to say..."

"Okay..." Ron let out a nervous breath, glancing between the two ladies, "Um... Just... Like, y'know, if you two do more than kiss, stuff like that, you'll let me know, right?" Kim nodded, and Ron relaxed visibly, sliding a friendly arm around Kim's shoulders and pulling her into his side, "Okay, then! Um..." he glanced back and forth between the ladies, and their nakedness, before glancing down and realizing he was standing, and in an even more obvious state of arousal than they were, "Um..."

"Don't worry, Ronnie, it's natural..." Shay smirked, "I mean, look at me!" She pointed at her hardened nipples, smirking as Ron stared right where she indicated, his eyes bouncing back and forth on her, before sliding over to do the same to Kim, and then back. "Okay, Sport, we get it... We'll go get dressed, right, Kimmie?" She turned to Kim, who nodded and was now giving a long, lingering look up and down her body. The pale woman's smirk softened into a happy smile at the obvious pleasure Kim and Ron both took in her body, and reached out to cup the red-head's cheek.

"Sorry..." Kim sighed breathlessly, "I know you sometimes feel awkward about how you look..."

"Like you said in the shower..." Shay replied with a slightly heavy voice, "You don't see a freak, just a very, very hot woman..." The older woman paused, making sure she had Kim's attention and whispered, "Thank you for that..." She leaned in to give her a kiss that was soft, friendly and passionate in one. Then she turned to Ron, leaned in and gave him a soft kiss to the cheek, "Both of you..." She pulled back and Ron could have sworn he saw a particular glassiness to Shego's eyes when she turned away, despite the happy, odd smile on her face, "I'll be back in a few, you two..."

Kim stared after Shay for several seconds, a happy, if slightly gobsmacked look on her face, before Ron's fingers gently massaging her neck startled her into more awareness. She glanced at him, and took in his huge smile, and whispered, "God, she's an amazing kisser..."

"Looks that way." Ron said just as softly, "You gonna be okay with..." he gestured between them and Shay's door, and added, "This?"

"I..." Kim swallowed, leaning into his arms and laying her head on his chest, "If you are, Ronnie... Ron... Um, I'd... I like her, a lot, you know Maybe more than..." Ron nodded in understanding when she paused, it was obvious to him that Kim felt more than just physical attraction towards the former thief. Hell, he knew for a fact that, ever since Walter Nelson, she was unable to even _kiss_ a person she felt no emotional attraction towards, let alone do what he'd seen at the concert the prior night and what was implied to have happened in the shower after he left. "I don't know how much, yet, Ron, but... But I'd like to find out, if..." She stopped and looked up at him, and he saw a deep, almost terrified fear in her eyes that almost broke his heart, "If that's okay?"

"I meant every word I said, Kim." Ron assured her with as much strength he could put into his softly spoken words, "_Every_ word... I don't wanna lose you, but if you need me to, I'm willing to let you go, _if_ you need me to _just_ be your friend..." He held up a finger when Kim opened her mouth to speak, "Wait, Kim... I said, _'if'_... But if you want me to stay as I am with you, even as you find out whatever it is you have with Shay, I'll be here, forever."

"Okay..." Kim said, burying her face in his chest again, her voice becoming slightly muffled, "Okay... But, Ronnie?"

"Yeah?" Ron prodded after a moment, sensing something of great import in Kim's entire being.

"I... I think Shay..." Kim swallowed slightly, "If... If something ends up happening between you two... Your promise to me, stands with me to you, as long as you promise the same thing I promised about being open, 'kay?"

"D'ya really think Shay might be interested in me?" Ron said with a somewhat teasing, yet somewhat skeptical expression on his face.

"I..." Kim started, then paused to really think on it. Looking back up to stare into Ron's eyes, she nodded, "I think she might be, but... You do kinda have the ghost of her own past to deal with, y'know?"

"Yeah..." Ron smiled, leaning down to kiss the love of his life gently on the lips, "But... I can handle it, whether she ends up just being with you like that, or trying us _both_ and bouncing between us or being _with_ both of us, as long as I have you as well, KP."

"You're so weird..." Kim smiled, and nodded firmly, standing on her tiptoes slightly to kiss him once again, "But it's alright... I love your weird... And you'll always have me, Ronald Stoppable... Now, always and forever..."

Kim turned towards their suite door, and as her hand alighted on the doorknob, Ron called out in a teasing, yet sober tone of voice, "Hey, KP? You guys never answered..." Kim glanced back and cocked her head, and Ron smirked at her, "If you and Shego _do_ get together, and we stay together, but she never gets with me..." His fiancée cocked an eyebrow at him when he paused, asking him to continue, "Will I get to watch when you two're together?"

"I don't know..." Kim drew out, a smirk teasing the edges of her lips, "Do you think I'd hide something like that from you, Lover?" She leaned back towards him to give a stage whisper, "One word: _never_!"

"Okay!" Ron laughed, glancing towards Shay's door and noticing it was slightly open. Kim didn't seem to notice - or if she did, didn't seem to care - and he looked back to the red-head, "Just makin' sure, y'know?"

"Ron..." Kim said, raising her voice to normal speaking levels, her voice completely sober, "If Shay and I do get together, and get that far, but only with me? If she couldn't handle me sharing _that_ part of my life with you, even if you were just watching, she wouldn't be worth it..." Her face softened slightly, and she sighed dreamily, "And considering she wasn't angry that you saw us kissing, but that your little stunt with the door startled us? I don't think it'd bother her in the least..."

Kim closed the door, and Ron let out a long, slow breath, realizing that, if they ever did do something together, he was going to be in for the treat of his lifetime. He opened his mouth to say something to Rufus, when the clothing challenged rodent cried out, "Huwway!" The cry startled Ron enough that he almost literally jumped out of his shoes, and did stumble backwards into his chair, with Rufus' chittering laughter following after him...

**Author's Notes**

Not much to say in the this time around, other than... Will's fun to write this way! He's still a stickler for the rules, but he's a lot more of a pragmatist than he was. And for those that wonder, I've met a half Irish, half Filipina lady, and seen her angry . That'd scare damn near anyone to loosen up!

Then we have the mosh pit and the aftermath... Ron's one lucky bastard to have walked in on that scene, and lived to tell the tale, non? Now, to see where the various interpersonal relations between them go...

As always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work. As well, remember everyone, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember: if ya like a fic, give the author a review!


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Notes**

Hey there, once again! Not much to sa-... much to say, I kinda missed some major errors... They'll be fixed, don't worry! ^_^;; Well, hopefully I caught them all... Turns out I put a slightly older, pre-final revision up, sorry for any inconveniences, but I'm sure there's more problems I missed. Anyway... On to the review replies!

Jimmy1201: glad you liked it, it was a fun chapter to write! As to Ron, well... Who knows, the boy's learned a few things over the summer, 'specially after living with Kim! We'll see how it turns out, we'll definitely see...

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations.

Zagreus555: hello to the new reviewer, and thanks for the kind words! I'm glad to hear that you're gonna stay for the duration, it's always nice to hear when one's doing a good job writing. As to Rufus, well... Some people think he's an annoying deus ex machina, some people merely cognize his presence, and some people love him. And even among those that love him, many writers either don't like using him, or can't quite find a way to fit him into a story. I, myself, love the li'l guy, and love integrating him into fics! I hope you continue to enjoy the fic, and do let me know what ya think!

And now... On to the fic!

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

The room was slowly brightening as the sun rose in the east, casting a soft, pale glow across the penthouse's den. The man sitting on the couch stared out into the sky, watching Humanity's newest - not to mention largest - vehicular application of Lowardian technology to date: a Boeing 797-VTOL, an aircraft that had been on the drawing boards, and not slated for its first flight for almost eight years. It had finished its acceptance trials a month and a half earlier, and now, one eased down vertically into Go City International Airport.

Even as it did so, in the background, a slightly older Boeing 777-300 ER slowly descended onto one of the landing strips. Tech that had been new for less than a decade, now seemed as old and staid as a computer that was merely three years old. The man knew that well over twelve hundred souls would be on those two flights, and smiled at Mankind's progress.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Professor Mindbender, sans uniform and wearing a comfortable cotton housecoat and pajamas murmured, his deep voice reverent, "What Mankind has accomplished in its short time here on Earth?"

"Yes..." the single man who took up a large section of the loveseat to Mindbender's left said just as quietly, "But this... Randomness in our growth..." The huge man sighed, shaking his head, "Are you sure we can provide for them, Father? I've chosen to protect and serve, but I wish to do so much more..."

"Son, I know you do... And you're amazing at your job! As to the world?" Mindbender sighed softly, reaching out to pat the huge shoulder, "I sincerely hope so... I'd like to think that, together, we'll be able to sway those unprepared for what we can bring to them... Peace, protection with neither need nor want... So much has been within our grasp, but now, with the Lorwardian technology..." He paused, sighing softly, "I must admit, at first I was afraid... Then Boeing's use of their technology to increase safety, economy and people carrying came through... There's hope for some, and I know we can provide it, in time..."

"But..." the big man pouted, gazing at the stern visage of the man he viewed here, in this place, as his father, "I want to move on to it now... We coul-..."

"We must be patient!" Mindbender barely raised his voice, but the impact was immediate. The big man flushed slightly, snapping his jaw shut, his teeth crashing together sounding like a two by four cracking. The older man reached out and patted the younger's shoulder again, this time apologetically, "I'm sorry for snapping, but you must understand... We must practice patience! I'm nearly done with what needs done, as far as recruitment... After that is training and assurances that we have the loyalty of those that will help us. I was unable to recruit your sister with you, as she chose a different path, nor was I able to recruit some of the others... This has set us back, and forced us to use a backup plan I had in place years ago, but it will not change the ultimate outcome..."

"I..." the big man sighed, his pout still in place, but a thoughtful look slowly overtaking it, "I understand, Father... I just wish we could do more, sooner... I wish to help the world so much, but with all this waiting, it drives me nuts at times!"

"Greg..." Mindbender chuckled, "I understand... And, as always, your impetuousness, impatience and eagerness; I can see why you and your sister could never see eye to eye, and why you always hated the competitiveness in her..." The man was careful with his wording, emphasizing specific words or small groups of them with surpassing subtlety, carefully placing them within his sentences, "She is one who loathes backing down, to you or anyone... I never thought that she'd be one to listen to reason, yet someone got to her. But, then again, she's changed, or rather, I think she's going to stay changed, to be honest, and not destroy her second chance at a righteous life..." He ruffled the close cropped hair, "You helped with that, you know? And that... Is something I'm glad to see, your willingness to love her like you love your father..."

The huge man nodded, a strained smile upon his face, even as tears slid down to fall from his chin. Listening to Mindbender, it was almost as if he were speaking poetry in a broken cadence, but only if one were to pay close attention. If not, it'd seem as if the man were pausing to think ever so briefly on his words, as some of the great orators had been wont to do. However, by his use of cadence, emphasis, breathing techniques and scant, careful usage of his own, deeply hidden power over the auditory spectrum, he was able to implant ideas...

As he'd just done, again, to the huge man, to reinforce older idea implantations, with a slightly different wording. It was slower to do it this way, and took years, but the results were impossible to deny. And as Mindbender looked on the big man in his immaculately kept uniform and gave him a supportive, fatherly smile, he crowed inside as he saw those tears. It was confirmation that he'd finally broken through one of the strongest wills he'd ever encountered, and that the man was now his!

"There's no need for tears... Life is what it is... I'm sure you can make up for lost time with her when she's finished with her current duties to the world..." Mindbender waited patiently as the man reached up without thinking to wipe his face. He looked back out the window and sighed, a vaguely happy sound, before speaking again, "For now, Greg, let's watch the sunrise, and contemplate the eventuality of our triumph, hey?"

"Of course, Dad..." Greg's smile seemed more natural as he turned to watch. After several minutes, he glanced at his watch, "I hate to say this, Dad, but I have to take off... I have to get down to the Northeast Police Division offices to file some follow-up paperwork before I start my work shift. Sorry to cut this shor-..."

"Nonsense!" Mindbender chuckled, "Never be sorry for having a job that keeps this beautiful city safe! I love spending time with you, but you have a life - and duties - as well."

"Thanks, dad, I..." The big man stood and straightened the blue uniform he wore on his beat, then carefully enfolded the man in a hug, "I must go... The city will not protect itself..."

"Of course, Greg..." Mindbender chuckled after the door closed, a soft, dark sound, "You do _just_ that... Protect the city, _just_ like you tried to protect your little sister..."

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Ron started as the familiar tone of the Kimmunicator sounded from his wrist. He heard a groan from the couch, and sighed; he'd gotten up from the easy chair next to the couch to take the room service over to the table, and now this was going to interrupt his viewing of - from what he could tell - something that was going to be a regular, and very, very pleasurable sight. Before he got distracted by his contemplations and before the device could ring again, he answered it, "Hey, Wade, what's up?"

"Hey, Ron, are..." Wade stopped as he realized that there was something odd and familiar about the room behind Ron, "Um, you guys're back in your hotel room?"

Ron laughed, "Yeah, we got hungry and came back to the hotel to chill before the Stanford - Arizona State game..."

"Um, Ron..." Wade boggled slightly, "You realize that's at 1 a.m. where you're at, and it's only, what, 9 p.m. there, right?"

"Yeah..." Ron said with an indulgent, slightly salacious smirk. Then his face began to fall slightly as he realized that Wade had initially looked worried when he'd called, but their presence back at the hotel room, and Ron's own innate ability, had distracted him from the call.

"Um..." Wade said, then shook his head, jumping to the obvious conclusion, "So, Shego's out somewhere?" He was already typing on his keyboard, and Ron snapped out of whatever haze he was in.

"No, she's here..." Ron informed the tech guru quickly, "She's, um, showering... And KP's kind of napping on the couch?"

"O... Kay..." Wade stopped typing and stared at Ron in concern, especially with the sudden pale, sickly pallor of his friend.

"Um," Ron barely kept from stammering as a topless Shay stood quietly from the couch and ran to the bathroom to lend some credence to Ron's story, "You know you can lemme know what the sitch' is and I'll relay it when they're back and KP's a little more coherent or available and stuff and I'll let 'em know, right?"

"Ron..." Wade's voice was full of concern, even worry, as Ron's face went from pale to flushed in a matter of a second, "What's going on? I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

"Nothin's wrong, no interruptions to worry about or anything like that!" Ron assured him, then glanced to his right. Wade again looked as if he were confused when Ron's face took on a stunned, goofily distracted expression, "Oh, here's _Sha-ego_ now!"

Shay smiled thankfully at Ron as he caught himself, wrapping a towel over hair that was now damp. She also wore a towel around her topless body, to imply she'd just stepped from the shower, before making her way over to the blond teen. Kim intercepted her to plant a light kiss on her lips and whisper something in her ear. Shego snickered inaudibly and glanced at Ron, winking at him, as the red-head turned to walk in front of the blond to his far side, and out of the range of the video pickup. She was ruffling her hair a bit more than it had been from the makeout session she and the older woman had been in the middle of, and then slipped on her shirt, a pale blue polo tee shirt.

Just before she was out of range, Kim patted Shay's rear, giving a gentle but possessive squeeze that almost made the older woman squeak, and did make her turn to give Kim a dirty, if amused, look. Shay shook her head as she stepped into the range of the visual pickup, a slightly disappointed expression on her face, just in time to hear Wade say, "I'm bringing Will into the conversation..." Ron glanced back at Shay, and just caught Kim slipping away and around, so she was out of the Kimmunicator's visual pickup, and going towards the bedroom she shared with Ron.

Shay leaned up next to Ron, her chin all but resting on his shoulder just as Kim came into the picture, throwing her arms around Ron and affecting an expression of someone that'd just woken up, "Hey there, Nerdlinger, Willie."

Seeing the woman with a towel around her head and one wrapped about her body, both men blushed - one which had to be shockingly deep for Wade considering his dark complexion - and the older woman smirked. Kim, who was a bit irked at the interruption herself, dropped straight into 'mission mode', "What's the sitch?"

"We found Professor Kempinski..." Will said, managing to keep his voice and tone steady, "To the best of our knowledge, she's finalizing her plans, but we can't be one hundred percent sure."

"Damn..." Shay growled, "I guess by the call you're gonna need me and Team Possible?"

"Yup." Wade answered, "We figured we'd call you now, so you could have a little extra time to prepare for..."

"For?" Kim and Ron asked when the young man paused, neither of them going after a jinx, "Hold up a second, let me get Rufus..." Wade and Will nodded, and a moment later Kim reappeared, a still waking Rufus on her shoulder.

"There's a possibility of a terrorist group becoming involved, the October Front for Worldwide Liberation..." Wade grimaced, "I have no idea when... They send their standard messages in 256 bit encryption, but ones like I got yesterday are at a full 512... I broke that one about an hour ago, but they also ciphered it, and at Will's suggestion, myself and a few people over at GJHQ're trying to break the cipher. From what we've been able to gather, they know about Professor Kempinski's plans... We hope they're not going to attack while you're there, but..."

"The but is that we're going to be sending you in with a mixed GJ - US Army team." Will took over, holding up a hand when both Shay and Ron opened their mouths, "They will be backup, but if OFWL shows up..."

"Wait, they really call themselves 'Awful'?" Ron boggled, and both Wade and Will nodded.

"Yes." Will nodded, "Do you remember the July tenth bombings in Warsaw?" The three people nodded, and Will's expression hardened, "Making sure that the forensics teams were protected was my first major duty after my vacation..." His face was stone when he continued, "Thirty three people, seventeen of which were children, killed when they sent a remote controlled car bomb into a daycare center right when parents were there to pick them up."

"I remember..." Shay growled low in the back of her throat, "I also remember that was one of the first things GJ called on me for, when Betty offered to help me by '...showing my good intentions...', for extra security... I didn't see you there, though, Will..."

"I was undercover..." Will informed them, "And I found the three man cell that did the deed... Unfortunately, when the Warsaw police and GJ agents got there, they were all quite dead. Suicide."

"That's one of the ways they keep from being infiltrated." Wade added, "They're organized into small cells, and rarely have more than ten people on a job at a time. And if they're close to being found out..." The tech guru shrugged, looking a bit pale to be talking about such conviction.

"They're anarchists of the deepest conviction..." Will concluded, "Not to mention heavily armed. But it's presumed they have numbers in the hundreds, and must have the backing of some extremely rich patrons."

"They can get ahold of military hardware that would've been top of the line before the Lowardians, guys." Wade added seriously, "Hard ammo, explosives, combat bodysuits... And all cells are trained in their use. They're essentially a special operations group..."

"So..." Shay sighed, "We got ourselves some typical hero work, plus possible military action?"

"Yes." Will and Wade confirmed, Will continuing, "We're currently mobilizing the team that will be assisting you, and will be picking you guys up in about an hour to an hour and twenty minutes... By necessity we'll have to plan en route..."

"Got it..." The three members of Team Possible and Shego said together.

After a moment, Shay sighed and rubbed her eyes, "Let's just hope we can wrap this shit with Ariana up before they can get their shit together..."

"Yeah," Will sighed, "We'll be coming in with a GJ assault hoverjet, we'll call when we're ten minutes out, and put it down on the Hausmann Suites helipad."

"We'll be there..." Kim assured him, and with a general plan in place, Wade and Will disconnected. Kim stood up from Ron and sighed, her annoyance drawing Ron around to look at her as she crossed her arms over her chest with a huff, "Well... So much for what we were up to befo-..."

"Hey, you heard Willie..." Shego growled, reaching out with one arm around Ron's and one around Kim's shoulders, leaning in to whisper huskily to the red-head, "We got an hour... Five, maybe ten minutes to eat, a half hour to play, another five to get ready, and then we can go down and wait at the helipad..."

Kim scoffed, her tone mostly serious when she challenged, "Maybe I'm not in the mood anymore." Her face was still showing quite a bit of annoyance from the call, but there was some playfulness in her eyes when she finished her statement.

Ron glanced between Kim and Shay, before giving them both a huge, toothy grin, saying, "Hey, it sounds good to me!"

"How's this sound, Princess..." Shay purred as she let go of Ron, giving him a wink and a kiss on the cheek for his support. She then took two steps forward and ran her arms around Kim's neck, touching her forehead to Kim's. She braced her elbows on Kim's shoulders lightly, giving the red-head a kiss every time she ended a sentence, but pulling back before Kim could reciprocate, "You gave me a backrub... And then you started in on more... So how about I return the massage... And we get a bit more touching done... And _maybe_ get a chance to finish up before we have to get dressed?"

Kim had been annoyed at the first kiss, and had started to growl after subsequent kisses, her irritation more apparent each time Shay held her off with her elbows. Finally, with the fifth kiss, she slipped the older woman's elbows over her shoulders, and deepened the kiss, which lasted for about half a minute before a not so subtle cough from Ron stopped them. "Ladies, food's gettin' cold, and you'll have a half hour after eating for that..."

"I can skip eating if she keeps kissing me like that!" Shay growled huskily, and Kim giggled delightedly as she pulled herself from the older woman's grasp.

"No, you're right, we should eat..." Kim said, just dodging out of the way when Shay went in to grab her again, "And quick! Maybe when we get back we can actually sit down and _eat_ for real?"

Kim blinked when Shay stopped and stared open mouthed at her, and Ron somehow managed to make his snort of shocked amusement sound more like another cough. Kim's face quickly reddened, and she let out a squeak as Shay skipped forward and gently cupped the heroine's face, "That... Might be too soon, but I'll leave it all up to you and Ron, Princess..."

"I didn't mean that, Shay!" Kim squealed, giggling at the older woman, who was favoring her with an intent expression, despite the amused tone in her voice. The dichotomy told the red-head the former thief was teasing her, and that, as well as her own startled outburst served to both increase Kim's embarrassment from speaking so bluntly and her arousal for the implication in Shay's words.

"You sure?" Shay snickered, winking at Ron, who was trying valiantly not to laugh himself.

"Yeah..." Kim nodded, then leaned up on her tiptoes to give a shorter, but no less intense kiss to the older woman, then clasped her hands with Shay's, giving a light kiss to a few of her fingertips before smiling, "It's something I've kinda been wondering about since yesterday, but... Maybe we should wait. I don't know, but I _do_ want to do something _more_ than making out, y'know? And preferably soon!"

"Again..." Ron said with a sage tone, which was ruined by the overblown, almost melodramatic pose he struck, one foot cocked forwards and a hand held halfway aloft, a finger pointing towards the ceiling, "It sounds good to me!"

"You..." Kim chuckled, dropping Shay's hands and half stalking over to her fiancé. When she got to him, she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss that was about half as long as her kiss with the former thief had been. When she was finished, Ron was smiling his typical, goofy smile, and Kim murmured, "Are weird... But I love weird... _Especially_ your weird..." She leaned up slightly once again and gave him a quick peck, "And thank you again for trusting me in this, Ronnie..."

"Hey, now, he's gettin' a li'l something out of watching, I'd say..." Shay chuckled at them, "Besides... Food, remember?"

"Yup!" Rufus, who was already digging into his tray, chirped from the table, holding aloft a freshly baked beef sausage stuffed pretzel with a huge dollop of cheese on the end, "Cheese!" His three friends laughed and nodded, taking their places at the table to eat, and looking forward to the next forty minutes or so, and trying to keep their minds off of the worst case scenario that could be coming their way...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Just under forty minutes later, Shego was waiting anxiously next to the door to the suite. She had been worrying at her lip up until that moment, and it annoyed the living hell out of her. _I haven't been getting nervous doing my solo shit over the last few months, and I can't remember if I was always this nervous when I was working with the idiots..._ she shook her head as she went over the same thought for perhaps the twentieth time, _Or am I nervous because I'm going to be with Kimmie and Ronnie, and I'm worried how I'll react if one of us gets hurt?_ She grimaced at that thought, _Just like I did with Jesse, James and Jody..._

The sound of Kim and Ron's bedroom door opening startled her out of her reverie, and she couldn't help but whistle appreciatively at Kim. "Like it?" the heroine asked with a smile, giving a quick twirl to show off her mission outfit. Her outfit wasn't as great a departure as Shego's had been, but it was definitely evolutionary. Gone were the flare bottom slacks that had bordered on bellbottoms and tight fitting tee shirt with almost haphazardly strapped pouch on her right thigh.

In their place was a one piece suit that had been made from the same material as Shego's new suit. Like older woman's suit, Kim's clung to her frame like a well fitted glove, and while it showed off no more of her body than the white and blue super suit had, the older woman found the fall of light on the new color scheme - deep charcoal gray and a darker purple than her old mission clothing - to be far more alluring.

The suit was even more streamlined in appearance than Kim's last mission outfit, and even somewhat more than her super suit; the thigh pouch, utility belt and another new pouch resting just above her rear, while mostly integrated into the suit, Shego knew from her own suit that they were removable. There was an integrated version of the newest wrist Kimmunicator, which had a more powerful grapnel but no Taser function, fully integrated into the suit's wrist, as was a bulge at the neck.

Shego knew what the bulge at the neck was, as she'd suggested an integrated head covering during her suit's design phase that was similar to a balaclava. She'd decided in the long run to go with one that could be sealed onto the neck like the suit's openings. While she hadn't expected the alternative design to be carried over from the initial plans, she was glad to see it in Kim's, as it implied that Drew was improving his recall.

_Then again,_ she thought with an inward chuckle, _Drew has Wade and Vivi to keep his mind on track!_ The older woman's attention next fell to the teen's hair, which was held back in a ponytail that had been wrapped into a shorter style that was slightly offset to her right. The former thief had to hold back a snort of irrational amusement, as that was the direction her hair tended when left to its own devices.

The way the suit was colored was similar to the super suit, except there was no blue on the hands or shoulders. In place of the white was the aforementioned dark charcoal gray and in place of all the super suit's blue was the dark purple. On the arms, the bands now had a chevron like pattern, two on the lower arm and one on the upper, all of them pointing towards her hands.

The knees of the new suit were also treated with three thin chevrons above and below, and the knee area's coloring flowed smoothly into a band around the back of her knee. All in all, Shego felt the suit was far more apropos for the lithe teen than everything other than the super suit, and she felt that Kim likely prefered her new suit to that, as far as how it fit. "Not bad, Princess... Is this a super suit as well, or just plain Jane like mine?"

Shego's teasing smirk and appreciative leer brought a light blush to Kim's face, as well as a happy smile. "Nothing super, though Wade and Drew are working on a stealth function similar to my old suit... Though Wade said it's more of an adaptive camouflage? It's only about sixty percent as effective, though, due to the material and the lack of the nanobots."

"Drew mentioned working on that to me for mine, too." Shego commented, then caught Ron as he slipped out of the room, surprisingly silent in his uniform, "Not bad for Ronnie, either!"

She let her gaze trail up from his feet. Like Kim and Shego's suits, the shoes were integrated as part of the overall whole. However, his shoes were soft all around, and styled after _tabi_ boots. The material was the same as their outfits, though, and the bottom was a flexible, but likely exceedingly tough material, and probably supplied more grip than Shego's own semi-hard soled boots.

The rest of the uniform was quite similar to a _shinobi shōzoku_, though the head covering was more of a balaclava with a very narrow eye slit. The color was a moderately dark gray, similar to Shego's, and fit looser than her own or Kim's suits. It was not, however, baggy and it did show off a body that was still gaining muscle, and it showed it off quite well. One of the obvious concessions to the suit's design was that of being a one piece, but unlike Kim or Shego's suits, there were oddly placed seams.

After a moment, she realized that the seams were probably pockets with overlapping openings - to protect from projectiles - so he could reach hidden items such as the odd, multi-tool looking device he was placing in one at that moment. There was also a utility belt similar to Kim's, and he had an integrated pouch, again, much like Kim's suit. She almost burst out laughing when she noticed Rufus, sitting on Ron's shoulder, was wearing an almost identical suit.

"You too, Rufus!" She chuckled, and Rufus held up a fist to Ron, who returned his pound with a smile visible under the balaclava, "Well, are we ready?"

"Yeah, let's get out there and wait for the hoverjet..." Kim said, her tone back to mission mode and her mouth set in a grim line.

"Right..." Shego said as she and Ron fell in behind her, but Shego noticed something odd as they made their way to the helipad; Kim's determination, her mission mode, seemed to slip slightly. It wasn't something she was expecting, and it worried her. She didn't have much time to contemplate it, as in short order, they were standing atop one of the southern, shorter sections of the hotel. While shorter than the section atop the restaurant, it was out of the way of the taller section, and was somewhat protected from the prevailing wind.

They stood together in silence for a couple minutes before Ron sighed, glancing at Kim worriedly, "Hey, KP, you okay?" His words startled Shego, as she hadn't thought to voice her worries about Kim's apparent condition herself, and she felt like mentally kicking herself for not doing so...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"I'm..." Kim started, but a gentle hand on her shoulders from her fiancé, the man she felt was the love of her life, and the woman she was... Friends with... Almost lovers, three times over... _Essentially_ lovers at least one of those three times, if she was honest about what happened at _Liebe-Hass-Liebe_! She took a long, shuddering breath and spoke with a startling fragility in her voice, "I'm not sure... I'm really anxious, Ronnie, Shay..."

"About what, Princess?" Shay asked, concern heavy in her voice, the old taunt of a nickname now taking on a significantly different, more intimate nature to it.

Kim sighed again, this time shaking her head in frustration, "I don't know... I'm not used to having so much time to wait, and think about... About what could go wrong, or what could happen..."

"Worried you might take things too far like when we almost fought on the rooftop?" Shay asked gently, and Kim nodded.

"Or... I mean, I've just... Since late July, I've been so _worried_!" Kim's almost breathless comment obviously startled Ron, Shay and Rufus, all of whom exchanged a quick glance, "That I'm going to fail... That I'm going to _prove_ that I'm not as good a heroine as I thou-..." She was cut off by two gentle hands on her cheeks, Shay's right hand on her left, Ron's left on her right. They didn't try to pull her either way, but instead moved to stand in front of her, their eyes full of compassion.

"Princess..." Shay started, her eyes shimmering with her own worry over Kim's change of demeanor, then smiled slightly, "Kim, you're still the heroine you've _always_ been... Maybe more! I mean, you _kicked ass_ the opening day of the 'Fest, _and_ you saved Mrs. Hausmann the day before..."

"You're badical, KP..." Ron assured her, but Kim was unconvinced, closing her eyes to try and shut out the visions of faceless men and women standing over Ron, or Shay, or Rufus, or even _herself_, with blood pooling underneath, slowly spreading out from the dying body...

"What if those terrorists show up, or I screw up, or..." Kim started, only to be cut off by soft, full lips touching hers gently.

"Things happen, Kimmie..." the former thief intoned gently, but her face was a mask of seriousness, "It's happened before, you or Ron or Rufus or Fate itself intervened and the bad guys got away... And it'll happen _again_ in the future! And, yes, the stakes _might_ be higher this time... _Might_... But Ron and I both trust you to have our backs, right? And _we_ have _yours_... So we should be unstoppable!"

Kim opened her mouth to speak, but Ron beat her, "KP, Shay's right... We're here for you, and you're here for us." He said firmly, "How about we wait to hear what the Army and GJ guys have planned, and maybe go from there? Maybe you could offer Command and Conquer for us or something if it worries you too much to be down with us..."

"I..." Kim frowned slightly, suddenly worried that her fiancé was trying to push her out of her place, to let Shay take over... The cloud of anger in her eyes spoke volumes, and Ron smiled slightly, taking her off guard. "Command and Control, dammit!" She snapped, realizing that the distraction, as troubling as it had been even in its brevity, had been his intent. She grimaced and favored him with a dire glare, slapping his chest firmly, "Not funny, Ron!" She sighed as the man she loved with all her heart, and the woman she'd become _so_ interested in physically, and who was slowly but surely insinuating herself into her heart next to Ron dropped their hands from her face.

"You good, KP?" Ron asked, a similar question in Shay's eyes.

"Yeah..." Kim grimaced, "Well, mostly... I'm still worried, but I feel better than I was there for a minute..."

"Good..." Shay said firmly, leaning forward to plant a deeper, far more passionate kiss on the red-head's lips. Kim could have sworn her toes curled with the brief, but intense display... And it wasn't the only one.

"Indeedy!" Ron agreed, planting a kiss just as toe curling on her, earning a gasp and a startled, slightly vacant smile from his fianceé.

Shay held up a fist and Ron gave her a fist pound, which drew a blush from Kim, "Okay, maybe... Maybe I'm worrying too much. And if they have something that I might be good at that keeps me out of the direct mission things, it'll help me center and get my mind back on the right path?"

"Up to you, Pumpkin..." Shay said softly, "But... Might be a good idea... After I left Team Go and got away from Hego and all the bullshit I had to deal with from Slocomb at GCU... I took _months_ off to decompress, and only offered my skills in a consulting role... Maybe backing off slightly, letting Ronnie step up more like he did against the big, green morons is a good thing?"

"Maybe..." Kim said, her tone considering, but also slightly sly as she gazed at Shay through half lidded eyes, "But... I'd need him to have someone on the ground at his back, y'know..."

Shay, for a brief moment, looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Then she smirked slightly, cocking her head, "I normally get paid for this kinda thing, Pumpkin..."

"I'm sure we could work something out..." Kim nodded slightly, "I mean, we're all getting paid for this..." She favored Ron with a disgruntled look, but her face softened slightly at his raised eyebrow. "And... Ron's been pretty convincing, since we're on our own and all, with corporations and governments and such..." Kim sighed slightly, grimacing, "I hate the idea of asking, but for the longest time I considered joining GJ... Might still, if Du keeps getting better... And that'd be getting paid for what I do anyway... But I don't' want to charge _everyone_... And sometimes, it'd be best to just take a job! If GJ hadn't asked us to interrupt our vacation, and paid us..."

"Considering what you do, I agree..." Shego glanced at Ron, her lips suddenly compressing into a line as she considered something. After a moment, a rueful, but happy smile came to her face as she gazed back at Kim, "And... I have some other incentives to stick with you guys for a while, y'know?"

Kim felt a blush slowly crawling up her neck, which rapidly deepened as she saw the look on Shay's face at the reaction. The older woman looked stricken with the same emotions most people got looking at a cute, fluffy kitten, mixed with a strong, lustful desire... And something else, something powerful, but hidden, as if awaiting the proper moment to come out. The same something that Kim had been feeling since earlier in the week, that she'd felt tickling the edge of her consciousness even before the near brawl at the _Käfer's Wies'n-Schänke_ tent, but could only at that very moment consider possible...

"Here they come." Ron said simply, putting a friendly arm around the two ladies, Shay's arm going around his back in a comradely fashion, "Head in the game, right?"

"Right, Ron!" Kim agreed, leaning up to give him a brief peck on the lips, before reaching behind Ron's back to give Shay's hand a warm, thankful squeeze, "Thanks, both of you..."

"No problemo, KP!" Ron said jovially, letting go of them.

They let go of each other as well and stood back as the hoverjet circled with a nimbleness that belied its size and flared perfectly for landing. Its vector thrust nozzles quickly reconfigured to VTOL mode, even though no exhaust was coming out of them at that moment. "Ooo, a Mk VI! I didn't know these were off the drawing boards, yet..."

Kim agreed with Shay 's impressed whistle, feeling that there was a reason for being impressed. The aircraft was sleek, a mix of attack helicopters such as the Boeing AH-65 Apache and Eurocoptor's Tiger, Sikorsky's UH-60 Blackhawk, and a stub-winged air superiority fighter. When it was coming in, it had looked rather small, but up close, it was positively huge; almost twenty six meters long, just over three and a half meters wide at the fuselage's widest point, and seven high, it was actually larger than the UH-60.

Kim had heard of the craft, her father and Drew Lipsky had a hand in designing its VTOL system, and she'd heard many details about it. It used some of the same technology as Drew's hovercraft - which explained landing without additional exhaust from the vector thrust - as well as new propulsion technology reverse engineered from the remnants of the Lorwardian invasion cruiser. The external armament winglets, chin turret and side gunner's positions were currently in the closed, 'high stealth' position. There were three main doors, two just ahead and above the stubby wings, and the rear cargo hatch, which was currently dropping.

"Ok, color _me_ impressed!" Ron stated in awe as the rear door dropped to its fully open position, and a familiar face appeared in the doorway.

"Harry?" Shay called out as the three of them dashed towards the door, and he nodded with a grim expression.

"Looks like ya got me for backup, Nightlight!" Captain Harry Little Coyote's voice was as grim as his features, which probably had something to do with Shay merely wincing slightly at his fond old nickname for her.

"Why do I get the feeling he's one of the places you got your knack for nicknames?" Kim asked in a whisper as they ascended the already closing ramp, to which Shay chuckled despite her apparent worry over the situation.

"Him and Vivi, Princess..." Shay commented as they made their way forward even as the aircraft took off with surprisingly smooth movements, "Him and Viv-..." Kim glanced over worriedly as the older woman stopped in her tracks, staring open mouthed as two of the eighteen soldiers in the compartment stepped forward.

One was man with close cropped blond hair, pale skinned with ice blue eyes, and was quite tall, standing a full head above the former thief. His scarred face was attractively ugly, as some would say, looking hewn from granite by a clumsy sculpture. The smile on his face looked more like a grimace, despite the pleasure shining in his eyes. He bore an almost exaggeratedly strong jaw, heavy brow and pug nose. He was also built like a tank made human and seemed quite mobile, despite his deceptively ponderous movements, and if he had any extraneous fat on his body none of the four new arrivals could see it.

The other soldier was a woman as short as the big man was tall, the top of her short, curly haired scalp barely reaching the level of Kim's eye. She was thin and wiry, small of bosom and moved with an economy of movement that bordered on unconscious grace, surprisingly similar to the way Shay and Kim moved. Her face was charmingly attractive, with naturally straight teeth displayed prominently by her huge, winning smile. And in another seeming play of opposites, her skin was so dark she appeared to be carved from ebony in the dim compartment.

"JJ? TJ?" Shay finally gasped as the two soldiers stopped in front of her, an expression somewhere between delight and fear etched on her featured, "I... Figured you two would've been out or dead by now..."

"Eh, Sarge taught us to keep our heads down, right TJ?" JJ, the shorter of the two, chuckled as she glanced at TJ, her eyes dancing with emotion. Her voice was in keeping with her stature and looks, a burry but lilting soprano barely touched by an accent. She looked back at Shay and reached forward, seemingly compulsively, and grabbed her into a strong hug, "God _damn_ it's good to see ya again, girl! And back on our side, too!"

"Short stuff ain't kiddin', darlin'..." TJ's voice was a soft spoken, velvety, deep baritone, and fit with his stature surprisingly well, although with his Scandinavian looks, it was something of a shock to hear an accent more in keeping with the southern gentry. Nonetheless, Kim - almost despite herself - felt a slight shiver as if the voice was drawing a feather down her backbone. She couldn't help but wonder how many women the man had seduced with that voice as he continued, "Been hopin' t'see ya 'round somewhere, with ya bein' pardoned an' prob'ly visitin' the 'Fest, but I got stuck doin' extra trainin'..."

"How's the wife, ya big lug..." Shay unconsciously answered Kim's question, and she found herself smiling as the older woman allowed an open, honest smile that she had only seen a couple times, and only recently.

"Doin' great..." TJ chuckled, then sobered slightly, "So's Maria an' Amund, an' we've another on th' way..."

Kim, and from what she could tell, Ron, tensed at the mention of the children, but Shay couldn't have been happier. Giving the big man a smile, she disengaged herself from JJ and gave the big man a hug, which he returned with a gentleness that spoke volumes, despite his scarred face and fists. "Congratulations, TJ... I'm _really_ happy for you..." She sighed and pulled back, blinking away tears as Kim and Ron came up to stand beside her, and nodded towards the front of the compartment, "Looks like we're interrupting the briefing... How 'bout we catch up after this shit's over?"

"Sure..." JJ chirped, holding her hand out to Kim and Ron, "Second Lieutenant Jolene Jefferies, honor to meet you."

"Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable," Kim said, shaking her hand, then indicated Rufus, "And Rufus..."

"Good to see she has friends..." JJ chuckled, shaking Ron and Rufus' hands in turn. As she finished, she whispered in a peculiarly effective conspiratorial whisper, "I managed to snag some leave and saw you guys making your way out of the fest on Thursday, but couldn't catch up to chat with Shay... But I haven't seen her as happy as she was with you three in _years_..."

Kim flushed slightly, remembering the events of that night, but smiled at the older woman, shaking her head in wonder, "Thanks..."

The big man, who had heard the conversation but seemed unmoved by it, held out a hand the size of a hamhock, a similar smile on his face, "Staff Sergeant Thomas Johansson... A pleasure, an' t'be honest, an honor foh me as well."

"Wow..." Ron said with wide eyes, staring down at the hand engulfing his, "I thought I had big hands..."

"Ya do!" TJ chuckled, his grin still looking more terrifying than humorous, "Trust me, Ah get that line a lot, an' mostly from people with _much_ smallah hands..."

Kim, Ron and Rufus followed the two soldiers up to where Shay was conversing with Harry Little Coyote. There were eighteen other men and women sitting on benches or _standing_ - another marvel of the aircraft they were in, the inertial compensation that allowed someone to stand during normal flight maneuvers - and all of them looked ready to take on the world. There was a mix of GJ and Army troops, evenly split if Harry wasn't taken into account.

When they got to the group, Harry pressed a button on a remote, and a portable holographic projector came to life. Within its display, both Wade and Will Du's images sprang to life in the space above and behind him, as well as a flat area for a holographic 'screen'. Wade Load and Will Du's faces were grim, grimmer than Kim was used to seeing on either of them. "I think it's time to start the briefing, ladies and gentlemen." Harry said, making quick introductions for Kim, Ron, Rufus and Shay, "And finally, First Lieutenant Silvia Lopez."

"Thank you." Will said, nodding to Harry, "As you know, we've been tracking who we thought was a new supervillain that was bordering on naked terrorism." Several heads nodded in unison, and Team Possible shared worried, knowing looks with Shego, "Unfortunately, we've been deceived. This woman," An image of Professor Kempinski came up on the holo between Wade and Will, "Is Professor Ariana Kempinski of Go City University. Thanks to some post processing performed by Wade," Wade nodded in acknowledgement, "We discovered that she has a Neural Compliance Chip on her neck, mostly hidden by her hair."

Wade stepped in, "What that means, is either A: we have another supervillain using a proxy... B: we have a terrorist group acting via proxy... Or C: both A and B. This isn't good, either way.

"I managed, with Dr. Lipsky's and Agent Du's assistance for likely targets, to track her to here..." A map of Germany came up on the floating 'screen', centered on a set of buildings. There were four, one long rectangle shaped building and three square buildings, all of which were oriented in a similar fashion, with the corners pointing towards the cardinal points on a compass. They were highlighted in red, and had access from six different roads highlighted in blue. One of the roads, highlighted in alternating diagonal red and blue lines, crossed a green highlighted railroad track about half a kilometer from the buildings. "This is an old, disused warehouse that recently began using electricity again. The Army sent a surveillance drone to scout the area, and managed to catch one of the henchmen in the earlier photograph smoking, and after a few hours, caught sight of the professor.

"What she's cooking up in this warehouse, presuming she follows the path her purchases indicate, is a WMD, a new nerve agent more deadly than anything that's been produced to date, ladies and gentlemen." Harry interjected, earning a shiver from several members present,

"And that's somewhat of an understatement..." Lieutenant Lopez added, "Unlike most other agents, it can apparently be a nearly pure gas or suspended in solution, or both in a dual warhead weapon."

"Just how deadly is it?" Kim and one of the corporals asked, and Harry sighed as he answered.

"One moment, Corporal Simms," Harry said, before addressing Team Possible and Shay, "VX is the most deadly of the second generation nerve agents, and the contact LD-50 - the dose needed to kill fifty percent of a given population - is ten milligrams; the inhalation LCt-50 - the concentration needed for lethality of fifty percent over time - is thirty to fifty milligrams per minute for each cubic meter." Team Possible, Shay and some of the troops, blinked in shock, their mouths begining to drop open as Harry continued, "The agent Professor Kempinski created is, essentially, a fourth generation nerve agent; in gas form, its LCt-50 is between five and fifteen miligrams per minute per cubic meter; in oil form, the contact LD-50 is about two and a half milligrams... In both forms, it can penetrate our newest official NBC cuits within ten minutes of exposure."

"Christ..." Shay whispered as she, Team Possible and several of the soldiers gasped, some of them shuddering at the implications.

"It is something that can be dealt with using currently available anti-nerve agent technology, but we'd prefer it not to come to that, for obvious reasons!" Will said seriously, "Suffice it to say, this is above any clearance level available, and as such, this can never be spoken of outside of this mission..."

"Does the October Front for Worldwide Liberation know what, exactly, is being made?" Shay asked tightly, and relaxed as Wade shook his head negatively.

"Thankfully, they think it's sarin..." Wade said, bringing up a communiqué, "According to this, they're planning on throwing about thirty foot soldiers out of about forty to fifty men at the warehouse in about two and a half hours..."

Harry immediately walked over to stick his head into the accessway to the pilot and gunnery station, "How long 'til we're at the LZ?"

"Because we're going in full stealth, about forty five minutes, sir!" the pilot called back.

"Alright," Harry nodded, "We have about an hour to get done and gone before they're there..." His comment was the real beginning of the briefing. The plan was to land in fully silent mode a half kilometer from the target, just over a hill that would likely not have any henchmen guarding it. Eight of the soldiers and GJ operatives were snipers, equipped with DeMenz Gruppe plasma sniper rifles, that had both lethal or less than lethal settings, to act as long range backup for the main mission, as well as to help watch for OFWL operatives.

The plan was for Team Possible and Shay to slip in, and the combined special forces and GJ operatives to come in behind them as a mix of backup and to police any henchmen they left in their wake. There would be two Global Justice stealth Blackhawk helicopters in reserve, as well as three GJ hover gunships, which hopefully would not be needed. As the planning wore on, Kim, Ron, Shay and Rufus offered ideas as to where and how they'd slip in, and Kim suggested she stay with one of the sniper teams as an extra set of eyes.

"Good idea," Harry remarked, nodding in approval, "You guys have a lot more experience than the troops do with supervillains, so it might give us not only a liaison between Team Possible and us, but give us someone both used to apprehending villains to watch for any escape attempts, as well as a better insight when it came to handling them without violating the various henchperson union rules..."

_Not to mention help me with this..._ Kim paused in her thought, at a loss to describe the feelings, before shrugging mentally, _Anxiety like I told Ronnie and Shay earlier... It's as good a way of putting it as anything else, I guess..._

"Alright, we have a plan..." He glanced over at the group, then signaled two people, "Lieutenant Jefferies, if you could discuss with Kim the ins and outs of some of the equipment..." He glanced back at Kim when she grimaced slightly, "I know you don't use weaponry, Kim, but we have both live round rifles and DG Long Range Stunball rifles for a reason... And she can also show you how to use our new scopes to their fullest..."

"So not the drama." Kim smiled, although she knew it was a bit plastic. _God, I hope this goes well..._ she thought as JJ lead her towards one of the equipment racks. When they got there, Kim pointed at a complex looking monoscope, "PLL DayNight?"

"Why do I have a feeling you're already familiar with it?" JJ chuckled, shaking her head slightly.

"Considering I helped Wade and Drew test it, you could say that!" Kim chirped, her eyes showing some honest humor through the strain she felt, "I've also done some training with GJ on the DGLRS rifles..."

"Well, then..." JJ said in a manner that Kim was startlingly familiar with, remembering how Monique always used a very similar tone before dishing or asking for gossip, "How 'bout I _act_ like I'm showing you the whys and hows of the rifle, and we talk about my buddy, Shay?"

"How did I know?" Kim sighed, favoring JJ with hooded eyes.

"Hey, now, girl..." JJ said with an honest, open smile, "I wasn't able to help my girl there when she needed it 'cause of her brother, _and_ I haven't seen her in years, and I just wanna know if life's treating her well..."

"Eh, some stress, but overall pretty good, I'd guess." Kim admitted, remembering the rare, and open display of affection that Shay had not only allowed with the petite woman, but that she had returned as well. "She's working, and apparently making good money at it. She had a relationship with Drew, but that kinda fell into friends..."

"More probably he kinda took Harry's place..." JJ said sagely, startling a nod out of Kim. The black woman smiled, sighing slightly, "That girl, I swear..." JJ glanced at Shay again, then back at the red-head sitting next to her. Leaning a bit closer, she whispered in a manner that combined honest curiosity with something quite a bit more personal, "Y'know if she's single?"

"Why, you interested?" JJ blinked a couple of times at Kim's blunt question - and how close to the mark it was - and the marginally protective quality of Kim's tone.

The black woman ducked her head slightly in embarrassment, before looking back up and cocking her head at Kim, "Was I that transparent?"

"I wasn't sure..." Kim admitted with a smirk that could have come straight from Shego, winking at JJ, "But you confirmed it." JJ stared at her open mouthed for a moment, before snapping her mouth shut and chuckling at the younger woman. "Sorry, but one of my best friends, Monique, is a goddess of gossip, especially getting it from others that're reluctant to dish. I kinda learned how to get the info, and to defend myself against it."

"I see..." JJ's smile became a toothy grin, "I don't know her, but I kinda like her already!"

"She's the one that designed my second gen mission clothes, and helped Michelle Couture design this one." JJ's mouth once again dropped open and Kim explained before the sniper could voice her shock, "I helped save a fashion show she was participating in, it was no big." It was Kim's turn to chuckle as she glanced back at Shay.

She stared for a moment, admiring the view Shay's suit allowed of her body, and sighed slightly, "As to Shay... She's kinda seeing someone right now... Feeling the relationship, if there is one, out, if ya know what I mean?" Kim's tone was somewhat distant, and JJ grunted an acknowledgement, as if sensing Kim was going to say more. "I _think_ she's looking for more than _just_ a friend with benefits... But wants to make sure it's real, that there's more there than a crush with some apparently incredible physical attraction, before plunging too far... And it's complicated by the fact that the girl she's interested in has a boyfriend who's open to them dating, even if he's never involved with Shay..."

"So she's unavailable?" Kim nodded vigorously, perhaps a bit too vigorously, and JJ chuckled ruefully, "Bummer, but... I'm glad to hear it..." She let a slow smirk curl her lip as Kim stared at her, before asking, "And a girlfriend that she's basically steady with? Double bummer!"

"For you, maybe..." Kim said under her breath in a smug, possessive tone.

JJ cocked an eyebrow slightly, but had missed Kim's exact words. She didn't prod the younger woman about it, however, instead nodding at the blond teen on the other side of the compartment, "And what's the deal with your boy? I saw that ring the other day, and a few gossip rags've shown it and I've seen a few celeb shows touting it as his..."

"Oh, it is, but I'm _sure_ you don't want to hear about that..." Kim snickered, "Especially since Ron and I have a completely _badical_ relationship..." As Kim continued to talk to the older woman, she quickly understood why Shay had considered the woman a friend, as she began taking a strong liking the ebony hued woman herself...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

The main warehouse, which a quick recon had revealed to be the only one in operation, was larger inside than it had looked in the satellite photos. It was about four stories tall, with offices covering one third of its interior space along the southwest and southeast walls. This was both fortunate and problematic, as the offices were only two stories, leaving a roof area for lookouts, a ground floor and a second floor.

Ron and Shego had managed to take out the two lookouts on the roof of the office areas without any alarm being raised, as well as the two guards guarding the door inside. The two had downed two guards each, and JJ had caught one that had been coming around back to relieve one of his fellows. The Army/GJ combined forces team had policed the henches unconscious forms, hiding them in the overgrowth of bushes near the warehouse.

"Kimmie," Shego whispered into her headset, paired with one of the spare Kimmunicators which was on her wrist, "I think we were either wrong about their numbers, she's done with some of them... Or they're all in the central area. But there's no windows to the inside, no security cams for the Nerdlinger to hack, and Rufus hasn't gotten back to us..."

"I agree..." Kim's voice came back over Ron and Shego's headsets, the red-head's cautiously optimistic voice tense. They'd only run into two guards on the exterior, and two walking guard duty inside, with Ron up by one in the henchman count, "How much of the second floor left?"

"About twenty meters-..." Shego stopped as Rufus dropped from the square diffuser above Shego's head to her shoulder.

She glanced at Rufus, and he, using her hair to disguise his movements from Ron, signed, "Eight men in the next room, finishing break. The rest are all in the main area."

"Rufus just dropped in on me..." Shego informed everyone, "Twelve in the main warehouse, eigh-..."

"Contact!" Ron whispered suddenly, slipping behind the door in front of them to their left as it swung open. Shego found a dark shadow to hide in as eight henchmen walked out of what amounted to a break room.

As the men filed out into the hall and closed the door, she smirked, feeling a slight disappointment as she recognized four of the men, and a giddy elation as she realized that they were both unarmed and unaware of her presence. Lighting her plasma, she stepped into the light, nodding to the ones she knew, "Sal, Reggie, Mark... Since you guys know me, how 'bout you convince the others to just give up quietly so I don't have to get rough?"

"Shego?" The henchman known as Sal gasped, then sighed, glancing back at the henchmen she hadn't addressed, "Guys, I'd listen..."

"Yeah, no doubt," Mark and Reggie groused, but kept their voices low as Shego had requested. The rest of the henchmen glanced between each other and shrugged, knowing that it wouldn't affect their continued employment one way or the other.

Mark shook his head with a rueful chuckle and addressed Shego, "What the hell're you doin' here, Shego?"

"Paid job from the UN, boys, y'know how it goes..." Shego shrugged, dousing her flames and nodding to Ron, "If you'd hold your hands behind you, Stoppable will do the honors of cuffing you..."

"Wait, Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible're here, too? And working with you? Good call on the quiet time!" Reggie said tensely, glancing behind him but keeping his hands in place, "But... Team Possible's supposed t'be on vacation... "

"Like the lady said," Ron chirped quietly, "Paid job an' all..."

"Man..." Sal chuckled, his next comment earning some light hearted, and quiet, chuckling from everyone, including the heroes du jour, "I don't know what's worse, you workin' together, y'all charging yer employers what's likely more'n I make in a year, or me still stuck henching..."

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Kim hated to admit it, but she was enjoying her current position. Granted, she still wanted to be down there with Ron and Shay, but she couldn't help but enjoy the tense sense of anticipation she felt at the moment as the latest sitch was resolved easily. _That's one advantage__ of a former supervillain that probably helped train the top five percent of the entire henchman's union: the__ henchs__ won't mess with her if they can avoid it!_ She barely repressed a snicker at the next thought to enter her consciousness, _Or the new, improved Ron Stoppable, for that matter!_

Bringing the butt of her rifle over her shoulder to use the scope without a chance of a misfire, she scanned the hills, especially the areas around the other three sniper squads. Squad Bravo was about two hundred meters to the north of the buildings, set up in a defilade they'd found by sheer chance that gave them coverage of the entire north side of all the buildings. Squad Alpha was to the east perhaps a half kilometer, and covered the eastern approach. Squad Delta was to the southeast and in position to cover both the secondary approach paths.

Squad Charlie, which included Kim, was almost due southwest of the main warehouse building, and in position to cover the road that went over the rail line. They had found a copse of tightly packed beech trees surrounded by thick shrubbery and set up there as their first position. They could use the trees for physical cover, and they were currently hunkered down within the brush at the edge of the copse.

It allowed an almost unimpeded view and good fields of fire. She was about to lean over to ask something of Corporal Jones, when something caught her eye. She had her suit's head cowl and mask up, and blinked and began to fiddle with the controls of the DGLRS' scope before turning it back towards a light flare she'd noticed in the distance. After a moment, she called out, "Anyone see that flare about two kilometers to our east?"

"I did..." one of the GJ snipers from Bravo team said, "Nothing now, though..."

"Their timing's perfect; I have to retask to a different satellite to view the warehouse and the vicinity, but we do have a drone in the area..." Wade's voice was tense, "Unfortunately, due to the terrain, it'll have to be closer, and there's a few households in that area, can you give me a better idea as to where to look?"

"I'm still scoping the area with the rifle, Wade..." Kim said, holding the wrist Kimmunicator up to 'sight' down the length of the rifle.

"Got it..." Wade said with a satisfied smile, "Give me about five to seven minutes, I'll tell you what I see."

"Please and thank you." Kim chirped, grinning as Ron called over his headset that he and Shay had cleared half of the first floor. She again marveled at how different it felt to be in this position. Time crawled more than when she was shimmying through a vent or sneaking across heavily guarded grounds, but seemed to go by _faster_ than she was used to! The incongruous feeling gave her a heightened sense of being in the moment, an almost 'butterflies in the stomach' feeling.

"This is so _ferociously_ weird..." Kim whispered aloud, drawing a curious stare from JJ and Corporal Jones, and she blushed slightly. "Sorry, didn't mean to say that aloud... Just... I'm _so_ used to being down there with Ron..."

"I know the feeling..." JJ muttered back with a chuckle, "I used to be infantry, myself..."

"Well, I'm glad that I'm not the only one..." Kim chirped with a grin, before glancing through her scope. She could have sworn she saw movement down near one of the warehouse's entrances... She swept her scope towards the area, drawing Corporal Jones to follow her line of sight with his spotter scope. Kim saw a bush that shouldn't have moved in the calm, windless night, and began to filter through the scope's visual settings.

"Kim!" Wade's voice was loud in her ear, and she grunted an acknowledgement, "There's a pair of big Mercedes moving vans that seem to be set up to carry troops and two Russian GAZ-2975 trucks at that house where you and Sergeant McKinsey saw those lights! They've taken the family hostage!"

"I see something..." Jones half choked, interrupting Wade, "Go to UV!"

Kim had already been moving through the filters on her scope, and quickly settled it on UV, and whispered a foul curse. "Ron, Shego, we have four people attempting to slip in the bottom, southernmost door!" she snapped as she swept the scope around, "Make that five! Military grade equipment..."

"Got it, KP!" Ron called back, and drew a breath to speak, when Shay's voice coming over his mic overrode his.

"Guys, we got a TT sitch, you know the drill... The guys coming in are terrorists, so truce and scheme's over." she barked, "Pass it along, _now_!"

"What's going on?" Lieutenant Lopez asked, only to be shushed by Shay.

"Standard Henchperson's Union contract," Shay barked, "They help the good guys with terrorists and they're given a get out of jail free card!"

"Yeah, anyway, we got this, KP, everybody!" Ron assured them, his tone tense but glib at once.

"I'm sending in the rest of the squad." Harry said in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Fine by me." Shay answered.

"No problemo, Captain!" Ron agreed.

"All sniper teams, you have permission to open fire on any targets of opportunity, soft ammo at this time only!" Hearing the order, JJ took down the three men that were slipping up to the ladder from cover. Still on the command channel, Harry's voice was calm as he continued, "Agent Du, are the GJ Blackhawks in position to assist that family?"

"Yes they are, Captain." Will's voice was deadly calm, "They seem t' be moving them out in one'a th' 2975's, we are in whisper mode, will intercept in two minutes..."

"Thank you!" Harry's tone was sincerely thankful, "Send the gunships to cover the house, we're on the way to the LZ, ETA fifteen seconds."

"A'ready on th' way, Capt'n." Will chuckled, seeming not to care that his accent slipped, "ETA's 'bout thirty seconds, Ah figur'd ya'd wanna get 'em over there ASAP..."

"Got targets!" Bravo's spotter called out, and Bravo's sniper opened up, five balls of high voltage, low current plasma flying through the air in less than a second.

"So do we!" Alpha and Delta's spotters called out, and a quick litany of distances flew over the airwaves. An instant later, the two other snipers opened up, just as the crackle of automatic weapons fire from south side of the northernmost building echoed through the small valley.

"Get your ass out of there if you're not already moving, Bravo!" JJ growled over the sniper squads' communication network.

"On our way to position three, twenty seconds." Bravo answered.

"More movement!" Kim announced, "Top of the warehouse!"

"I see 'em!" Corporal Jones and JJ said at the same time, and both JJ and Kim opened up as they approached the skylight. They managed to catch four of them, but the other five crashed through the skylight without the help of the lines they had been trying to secure.

"Ron, Sheegs, you've got company coming in through that skylight!" Kim warned them.

"Thanks, Kimmie!" Shego quipped, her voice staticky for a moment as she lit up her plasma, "We kinda heard them!"

"Just sayin'!" Kim defended herself, even as she swung her rifle over towards the right. She blinked as she saw a man releasing the charging handle on a stubby, tripod mounted weapon and swing the barrel towards their position, "Oh, shit!"

It was fairly well known that Kim Possible rarely cursed, and the two words cut through the radio chatter long enough for her next words to be clearly audible as she picked her rifle up and yelled, "Grenades, bug out!" She screamed at JJ and Corporal Jones, "_**Bug out!**_"

Less than a half second later, the copse of beech trees was reduced to so much kindling by a string of explosions...

**Author's Notes**

Like the Author's Forward, not much to say here this time out. Except that I feel like an idiot. ^_^;; More on the mysterious Professor Mindbender and... His son? Seems that he's got his fingers in quite a few pots, non?

And, of course, the mission, Kim taking a backseat not only willingly - well, with just a little bit of prodding - but concluding it's probably a good idea! But then, she seems to have gotten stuck in the middle of the proverbial fire, now...

And, as always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work. As well, remember everyone, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember: if ya like a fic, give the author a review!


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Forward**

Just a couple quick notes: I went back and reread the last chapter, and noticed the area with the description of the neve agent was a bit unclear, so I fixed it. Sorry for any inconvenience.

In _this_ chapter, some sections of this chapter may seem disjointed and lacking in description in comparison to past chapters and even other sections within the same chapter. This is intentional on my part, as an experiment in showing someone out of their depth and having trouble making things fit within their normal scope of understanding: Team Possible (and to a much lesser extent, Shego) with actual, military style battles, and Shego in working with a well functioning team like Team Possible and the rest of them that're there. Hopefully it works.

Will it happen to them again? Perhaps, but as with all things, people do tend to to adapt and learn, so who knows... And now... Review replies!

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review - and apologies for shoving a 'new' chapter out that was actually an older, less well finished chapter - and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations.

Jimmy1201: Thanks for the kind words as always, and glad you liked how I did some of that. The bit with the henchmen is hinted at (and outright a part of, in some cases) in 'fanon' since pretty much the begining, and it does make sense within the context of the world. It's a way to insure the villains and supervillains play by some sets of rules and don't use their doomsday weapons willy-nilly, while it also gives the world a bit of breathing space... And keeps the villains and supervillains in a sort of self-inflicted set of checks and balances thanks to the 'mutually assured destruction' and the desire not to end up like terrorists...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

The arrival of members of the October Front for Worldwide Liberation had thrown the entire plan into chaos. _As the saying goes,_ Captain Harold Little Coyote pondered philosophically, _No plan survives contact with the enemy..._ Aloud, he called out to the cockpit, "Get us airborne and over that hill, no silence, weapons hot!"

"Yes, sir!" the pilot, GJ Agent Indra Bhuinya yelled back in an excitedly professional tone, "Samson, get the guns ready!"

"Already on it!" Warrant Officer Geraldine Samson barked back, the sound of the chin turret deploying barely audible inside the aircraft.

Harry continued to stare at the holographic 'screen'. It showed the feed from the satellite Wade had so recently retasked for the mission as well as multiple cameras - some mounted on helmets or firearms, including Kim Possible's borrowed rifle - others on the helicopters being used for the operation. He wished they could have kept the use of the surveillance drone, but it had been low on fuel and had been forced to return to base, its fellows being used for other, similarly important tasks around Europe and further abroad.

One thing he could see was that the situation was in the process of dissolving, so he set about rectifying that as directly as he could, "All sniper teams, you have permission to open fire on any targets of opportunity, soft ammo at this time only!" He saw JJ's rifle buck on a small section of the screen in front of him, but his voice was calm as he continued, "Agent Du, are the GJ Blackhawks in position to assist that family?"

"Yes we are, Captain." Will's voice was deadly calm, "They seem t'be moving them out in one'a th' 2975's, we are in whisper mode, will intercept in two minutes..."

"Send the gunships to cover the house!" Harry ordered as the Global Justice assault hoverjet lifted off and made its way towards the warehouse, "We're on the way to the LZ, ETA thirty seconds..." Through all of the action and movement, he kept track of all the data he could, trusting the officers, NCOs on the ground, Team Possible, Shego and even the henchmen he had originally been brought in to apprehend to do their jobs.

Thankfully, one of those was the formerly stuffy, stiff necked, stick-up-his-ass Global Justice Second Agent Basil William Du, who surprised him with his efficiency once again, "A'ready on th' way, Capt'n." Will chuckled, his home state's accent slipping into his speech unconsciously, "ETA's 'bout thirty seconds for them 's well, Ah figur'd ya'd wanna get 'em over there ASAP..."

_They're_ all _doing well..._ he admitted to himself with a tense smile, thankful that the OFWL terrorists had yet to turn any of his men into casualties. Orders, warnings and requests flew about, and then the men with OFWL opened up with automatic firearms.

Even still, his men and women remained calm, and Kim again proved her idea of staying with the sniper teams was a good one. "More movement!" she announced, "Top of the warehouse!"

"I see 'em!" Corporal Jones and JJ said at the same time, both JJ and Kim opening up on the men dressed in adaptive camouflage as they approached the skylight. They hit four of them, but the other five crashed through the skylight without the help of the lines they had been trying to secure.

"Ron, Sheegs, you've got company coming in through that skylight!" Kim warned them.

"Thanks, Kimmie!" Shego quipped, her voice staticky for a moment as she lit up her plasma, "We kinda heard them!"

"Just sayin'!" Kim defended herself. Harry was just opening his mouth to shout a warning when Kim's rifle swung at what he'd seen: two men setting up a Heckler & Koch GMG, an automatic, belt fed grenade launcher. For a brief moment, Harry felt a ball of dread in his stomach as the rifle froze in place, fearing he was seeing the last thing Kim had seen. Then the man yanked the charging handle back and released it and he heard something he never thought he'd hear, from all of the intel he had on the red-head, "Oh, shit!"

The radio chatter cut off for a brief instant and Kim's guncamera slewed wildly as she reached for Corporal Jones, screaming, "Grenades, bug out! _**Bug out!**_" Less than a half second later, the gun slewed wildly once again, but its overall vision was obscured by smoke, debris and fire.

"Samson!" he roared up towards the cockpit, "Light those bastards up!"

"Yessir!" the gunner growled, sighting in on the grenadiers. Warrant Officer One Gretta Samson had already decided to use the main gun, and a deft flick of a hat switch set the gun to a fifty round burst. As she moved her whole head around to settle the targeting system on the grenadiers, she spoke in an almost seductive voice, "Momma's got a present for you, you _worthless_ sons'a _bitches_..."

Under the chin of the hoverjet, the FLIR and sighting system aligned to where Samson was facing, and the three barrels of the wicked looking machine gun next to them began to spin. The machine gun was a M197 Mod II that had been specially designed for the hoverjet; like the original M197, it was a lightened version of the M61 Vulcan, but unlike the original M197, the barrels were the same length as the M61, imparting a higher muzzle velocity and striking power to the 20mm rounds it fired. Due to the inertial compensation system the hoverjet employed, it could fire at three thousand rounds per minute, which gave the double-ended linkless feed system quite a workout.

All of this was known to Samson, but was barely at the edge of her consciousness as a tongue of flame spat tracers from the nose of the hoverjet less than two tenths of a second after she'd pressed the trigger. She smiled, and a part of her mind crowed exultantly, hoping the murderous cowards gave her an excuse to use more of the two thousand, nine hundred and fifty rounds remaining in the weapon's ammunition bin...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Alright, Sal," Shego barked as she waited for the rest of the henchmen and Ron to file fully into the stairwell, "Are those uniforms the standard Class H Mark 25's?" Even as she asked the question, her gaze was sweeping left, right and up, keeping sharp attention on the skylights as Harry informed them he was sending the squad in. She held up a finger when Sal opened his mouth to speak, holding a hand to her ear to let him know she was otherwise occupied, "Fine by me."

"No problemo, Captain!" Ron said in a surprisingly glib tone.

Shego dropped her hand as she and Sal made their way down the stairwell, taking two steps at a time, "No, Mark 32's..."

"Ah, the new, Lorwardian derived ones?" Shego asked, some of her attention dedicated to the combat chatter coming over the headset, and he grunted in confirmation, "Heh, not as good as mine, but good enough for a firefight. Full face masks, same material?"

"Yup!" Sal acknowledged as they ran into the main warehouse. Shego once again gazed about herself, starting on the right this time, until she settled on the woman they'd come to stop and possibly rescue.

"Ariana!" Shego barked, stalking over to her, just as she heard the first rounds of sniper fire being unleashed.

"Sha-..." Professor Ariana Kempinski started, before her face went rigid and then slack, staring almost sightlessly at her old friend. When she spoke, "What do I owe the pleasure."

"Shego, Ron!" Wade's voice urgently called over the headsets in their ears, "Get within two meters and hold up your Kimmunicators, face out, towards the professor!"

Shego wanted to ask what the hell for, but decided not to when Ron complied without a thought. She took three quick strides forward and held the device up, and was shocked when a familiar white line of energy surrounded by a spiral of blue sprang from the devices and intersected at Ariana's neck. There was a fizzling sound, quickly followed by an almost agonized scream. "Uh, oh..." Wade said with a troubled tone, "_That_ was different!"

"Sh-Shay?" Ariana asked shakily, "Ron S-Stoppable? Wha-..."

"No time to explain, Ana!" Shego barked as the first bursts of automatic weapons fire erupted from the northwest side of the building. The mixed Army/GJ squad had just entered the warehouse proper, and she signaled them over before looking at Ariana, "Ana, stick with whoever they put you with." Turning her attention back to the squad, she spoke urgently, "Guys, we zapped the compliance chip, but Ariana's out of it... We need someone to keep an eye on her."

"Notta probl'm, Darlin'..." the mountain of a man known as Staff Sergeant Thomas Johansson drawled, nodding to one Army private and one GJ agent, "Keep 'er safe, you two..."

"On it, Sarge!" the GJ agent chirped, earning a grin from the Army half of the team, "This way, ma'am..."

"Can one of you two explain what's going on?" She begged them, just as the sound of a skylight being crashed through echoed from upstairs.

"Ron, Sheegs, you've got company coming in through that skylight!" Kim warned them, and Shego barely bit off a derisive snort of amusement.

"Thanks, Kimmie!" Shego quipped, her voice thick with sarcasm, "We kinda heard them!"

"Just sayin'!" Kim defended herself. Shego could have sworn the younger woman was about to say more, but the pause made the former thief pause. She knew she should be getting to cover like everyone else was, and moved to do just that, when a desperate, "Oh, shit!" came from the headset, and Harry felt his body stiffen. He wasn't the only one, he realized, as all chatter paused for a half breath, then she was screaming at the top of her lungs, "Grenades, bug out! _**Bug out!**_"

Shego opened her mouth, but the query died on her lips as the sounds of several explosions drowned out her thoughts. She heard grunts, gasps and what had to be someone hitting the ground hard, all punctuated by an agonized cry of pain. Shego pushed a button on the headset to drop her into the Team Possible channel, and called out, "Kimmie?" A brief pause and she added in a more urgent tone, "Princess, answer me!"

Before an answer could be received, a deafening roar not unlike God's own buzzsaw ripped through the air directly above the warehouse...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Sir! We have incoming aircraft, 11 o'clock relative, nape of the earth!" the young woman manning the combat information center called out, drawing a concerned and somewhat angry glare from the commander.

"And you know this how, Blondie?" the commander asked, earning a flush from the dark haired, dark eyed woman.

"Relative bearing and triangulation of their own radio chatter," Blondie groused, glaring at the commander in turn, "As you ordered, no emissions, Commander Stacks."

Commander Stacks chuckled at her glare, glad to see it. _So long as she remembers her training and turns it on the _enemy_, that is!_ Aloud, he said, "Good, good..." He turned his gaze towards the valley, raising a pair of binoculars to his eyes. He saw the first shots of the engagement, stun balls from sniping positions, and pursed his lips silently.

"Be prepared to dust off at a moment's notice, ladies and gentlemen..." he pronounced lowly, as automatic weapons fire echoed back to him, "Or have our... Escape plans in place..."

"Yes, sir!" another young member of their group called out, saluting crisply. Commander Stacks still found it amazing that members of various militaries had been so easy to turn to his cause, but he was glad for it. They helped train the less militarily inclined, and avoided the normal necessity of drilling his preferred military precision into his troops. It helped that the young man in question believed almost as deeply in the cause as Commander Stacks.

The graying man smirked, wondering if those higher up in the chain of command would appreciate his risky move. The chance at attaining dozens of gallons of weapons grade sarin nerve agent was nothing to sneeze at... And the fact that the blame would be on _supervillains_ until they struck was pure, delicious irony!

The roar of explosives, which he knew had to be a result of the automatic grenade launcher he'd sent up, was loud even nineteen hundred meters from the combat zone. He smiled, knowing that soon the resistance would be down, and that his anti-aircraft crew, sent forward with missiles and anti-materiel rifles, would be in place, giving them valuable time to abscond with the sarin... And possibly the one who had made it!

An instant later, however, he felt his blood run cold. He saw the tongue of flames spitting a sickeningly dense line of tracers from seemingly nowhere towards the ground. Then a sleek, vaguely familiar shape seemed to materialize from nowhere, and he recognized it as a Global Justice assault hoverjet of some kind. He also knew that the grenadiers were gone, their parts scattered across their firing position.

Just over five and a half seconds later, the burp of the rotary cannon reached his ears. By that time, the tongue of flame had erupted from the nose of the aircraft three more times. By the third shot, one of Commander Stacks compatriots had managed to fire off an anti-aircraft missile; the very same missile was blown out of the sky by some kind of defensive armament. It was at that very moment when Commander Stacks realized they'd stumbled onto something far more important than sarin nerve agent.

Project Kismet, he knew in that moment of clarity, was no more... And soon, neither would he, in all likelihood.

"Saddle up, destroy everything you can..." He paused as he saw Blondie preparing to take down her own communications system, and called out to her, "And call the trucks, they are authorized to eliminate the passengers at their earliest possible convenience!"

"Yes, sir!" the relief in her voice was palpable. "Small trout to Pike, lesson needs learned... Pike?"

"This is Global Justice Agent Will Du," was the response she got after a moment, a man with an almost aristocratic American voice came over the line, "I'm afraid Pike can't come to the radio, ma'am, but if you'd just stay put, the helicopters currently over your position won't open fire."

"What?" Blondie gasped, and then turned to Commander Stacks, her voice panic filled, "Sir, we have a problem!"

"What?" the commander barked, just as the Cobra gunships with - if you knew what to look for - GJ markings topped the rise to their southeast. The three barrel M197 guns on their nose barked, and while slower than the M197 Mod II on the GJ assault hoverjet, they were more than fast enough to take out the men who had been swinging shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles towards them. "Fire the vehicle mounted guns, dammit!"

"I can't!" the young man sitting at the weapons console in one of the Mercedes cargo vans cried, "I'm locked out!"

"Impossible!" Commander Stacks hollered, veins visibly popping out on his neck and the sides of his head in his rage.

"Attention members of the October Front for Worldwide Liberation." a voice boomed from one of the Cobra's PA system, "You are to surrender immediately, or we will use deadly force. You have five seconds to abandon your vehicles and throw your weapons down. You are being covered by snipers as we speak, who are under orders to shoot to wound if you attempt suicide, or to kill if you attempt to fire upon us. You will be taken into custody within two minutes, if you give up, and your safety is assured."

The message repeated in German, and Commander Stacks glared up at the menacing barrels of the gunships' main cannons. Then he smiled, hissing "Oh, no... No, we _won't_!"

He dove under the console that Blondie was hurriedly abandoning while tearing off her clothing, as were eight of the seventeen men still at their stations. "Cowards! You promised your lives to the cause!" he screamed as he pulled a remote from his clothing. He stared at the device for a moment, and glanced towards the warehouse, his last thought flitting through his forebrain, _Those men and women will know what to do when they receive the notification..._ He smiled evilly as he opened the safety cover and placed his thumb on the button underneath it, _Take some of them with you, brothers and sisters!_ He pressed the button with a loud, inarticulate scream of rage.

The pilots of the Cobra gunships stared in disgusted awe as the clothing of nine men and women exploded, killing them and scattering body parts and assorted offal across vehicles, the landscape and their still living compatriots...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..." Kim chanted, wincing as she twisted her head around to look for her comrades in arms. Looking to her east-southeast, she saw the grenadiers preparing to unload on Squad Bravo. She raised her hand to make sure her headset was in place, to shout a warning over the network, when the area the grenadiers were in literally exploded into dust, explosions and fragments of human bodies.

Kim briefly felt the gorge rise in her throat. She'd seen people hurt during rescues, after the Li'l Diablo incident, and even a few dead after natural disasters she'd helped with. She'd even seen bodies that had been there before she'd been on scene, but to see a human body torn to shreds with such brutal efficiency? It was new to her, beyond horrifying in its bluntness.

Then she remembered that those same men had been prepared to do just that to her, Corporal Jones and JJ, and her eyes narrowed, her mouth compressing into a thin line. She knew she'd need to talk about it, but it'd have to be _later_. This was, for all intents and purposes, a small scale war! Her grandmother had warned her that, eventually, she'd find herself in just this place, and had tried her best to prepare Kim for it. She had described battles in vivid detail, and shown not only black and white, but rare color photos of the aftermath of war. The red-head had railed against the old woman, but knew, even when she was a sophomore, that Nana was right. She closed her eyes, and swallowed against the bile trying to drag dinner up with it.

She was successful, and while she knew she might not be able to hold it in the long run, when she finally let herself think about it, she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. She quickly glanced back at the remains of the copse of trees. Two of the larger birches were still intact, except for being stripped of large sections of their bark. Those same two trees had protected her and JJ from the shrapnel, and soaked up some of the explosive force of the blasts, allowing her suit and JJ's body armor to protect them.

Then she heard a moan to her left, and glanced over to see Corporal Jones lying half underneath her, half under the branches of a felled birch tree. "You-..." Kim paused and blinked, realizing she could barely hear anything, despite the hearing protection that was in her ears. Raising her voice, she half screamed, "_Corporal Jones, are you alright?_"

"No!" the corporal griped, rolling himself out from under the birch's branches with a low, keening moan. "Shrapnel got me, went right under my vest..." He stopped speaking when the hoverjet's main gun opened up again, the burping buzzsaw drowning out any chance at conversation for a second.

"Y'got pressure on it?" JJ barked as the echo of the gun died, shaking her head as if to clear her own ears of their ringing.

"Yeah," Corporal Jones grunted, wincing, "But it friggin' _hurts_, ma'am!"

JJ grunted something more that Kim did not hear, before glancing at the younger woman, "You alright?"

"_What?_" Kim asked again, shaking her head like JJ had, "_Am I alright?_" JJ nodded, but it was Corproal Jones that answered for Kim.

"She got the worst'a th' blast itself, ma'am, I th'nk she got 'er ears scr-... Mess'd up..." Corporal Jones muttered groggily, "I'm th' poor sum'bitch th't got th' shrapn'l..." As Kim glanced at the, to her, mumbling corporal, his head dropped as he fell into unconsciousness.

"Dammit!" JJ snapped as again the main gun ripped death into another group of OWFL terrorists. She glanced at Kim and raised her voice to be heard by the younger woman, "Help me get his vest and shit off!"

"_Okay!_" Kim half yelled back, and was helping JJ with the Interceptor body armor when she heard a familiar voice in her headset.

"Princess, answer us, dammit!" Shay barked, the double beep before her voice indicating it was on Team Possible's own circuit.

"_I'm here!_" Kim half screamed into her mic, "_And I can barely hear you!_"

"Dammit, KP!" Ron's voice was relieved, despite his cursing, "Tone it down, you're screaming!"

"I'm half deaf, and can't even hear myself think!" she said as quietly as she could, barely hearing herself speaking. She quickly pushed a button on her wrist, dropping her headset into the general comm. network, "Corporal Jones is injured, and I'm fine, just half deaf, just make sure you, Sheegs and Professor Kempinski are safe..."

"Fine..." Ron huffed, still on the private channel, and she thought she heard Shay's voice speaking to Ron. "KP, we handled the men in here, we just need Prof. out!" Kim smiled to learn that they'd already dealt with the men that had slipped past her and JJ's sniper fire.

"How bad's Jones, JJ?" Harry asked a few seconds later, "We've lost Squad Delta, and Squad Bravo's spotter's in bad shape..."

"Shrapnel in his gut," JJ ground out angrily, "It's deep, sir! Dark red blood, hopefully it's not his aorta or he's dead before medivac gets here..."

"We have one'a th' Blackhawks inbound as we speak, L-T..." Will's voice suddenly cut into the chatter, "Since Warrant Off'cer Sams'n has th' area nice 'n' covered, they'll land at yer position t' evac Jones, while th' one I'm in'll pick up the prisoners, drop me off at th' LZ, an' head on t' th' nearest GJ facil'ty..."

"Thanks, sir!" JJ breathed, pulling a plastic pouch from one of her packs, as well as a tube of dark colored granules. "I hope this works..." she muttered as she opened the granual tube, pouring some of them into Corporal Jones' wound. Kim, who had used the same items in the past, winced in sympathy as JJ poured the granules into Jones' wound, then ripped open the pouch.

It was a press fit adhesive bandage, and looked more than large enough to cover the dime size hole in Corporal Jones' abdomen. JJ saw her raised eyebrow and Kim shrugged, "Seems kinda overkill, doesn't it?"

"Not really..." JJ said, nodding at the wound, "That should absorb the blood and let it clot, but if it doesn't..."

"I see..." Kim said, closing her eyes for a moment in worry, before glancing towards the warehouse, "Should we move to the warehouse after Will picks Corporal Jones up?"

"Yeah..." JJ nodded, "Unless Harry wants me to go with Dave, there's not much more we can do here, and the Captain will probably set down as soon as all the chopper takes off..."

Kim nodded in response, glad that her hearing was coming back as quickly as it was after the explosions, _Thank God for the earplugs, but I'm going to have to have Wade whip something better up..._

The subdued sound of a stealth Blackhawk coming over the east ridge of the northwest to southeast angled valley drew her attention. "JJ," Harry's voice came over the network, "As soon as we get Corporal Jones in the chopper, I want Kim down here, and you in the chopper with him, I need you to report in person to HQ. I'm sending you an encrypted scramble..."

JJ nodded to Kim as the helicopter flared to land in a beautifully executed emergency landing. A GJ medic and one of the door gunners jumped out to check on Corporal Jones. A quick litany of curses escaped the corpsman, and he glanced at the two ladies, "Good job, y'might've saved his life!" He glanced into the helicopter and called out, "Stretcher!"

"Thanks..." JJ whispered, then glanced at Kim, her mouth obviously dry as she held out her hand.

"Good luck, JJ..." Kim said simply as she shook the older woman's hand. The medic and gunner lifted the corporal onto the stretcher and moved him into the helicopter, and the two women let each others' hands go.

"Same with you, Kim, and..." JJ glanced down at the still unconscious form of Corporal Jones, "Thanks for bulling him over like you did, he might not've made it otherwise..."

"I..." Kim blushed brightly, "I didn't even realize I'd done it..."

JJ looked at her and smiled, boarding the helicopter as the single corpsman finished strapping the corporal into a spot for wounded. She turned and called back to Kim, taking seat close to Corporal Jones, "Combat does that, Kim... Keep your head down!"

"You too..." Kim said as she stepped back, and the helicopter took off. She then brought her cowl up, activating the night vision optical system embedded into the clear front and dashed towards the warehouse at full speed, calling out, "Ron, Sheegs, how're things in the warehouse?"

"One sec, KP!" Ron cried, having just heard some news that terrified him...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"I..." Ariana said as she looked on at the ruin of five men in full military hardware. Three of them had died when they'd opened up with automatic weapons, two of them had been knocked unconscious by Shego's plasma, the other three... Had detonated suicide vests, literally tearing their compatriots apart. She turned away with a shudder, concentrating on Shego's last question, "Shay, I don't know... I just... I was going to a department head conference about Professor Slocomb, and the next thing I know, I'm helping set up some... Some _thing_ in a railroad passenger car this morning... And then, nothing 'til just a minute ago!"

"Wait..." Shego's eyes widened in fear, and she felt her heart racing, "You mean to tell me that the _weapon_ someone made you design is already on a train, and you've only been here a few hours?"

"Shego..." Sal said with an uncomfortable shifting, "Um, me and the boys had no idea it was nerve agents..." He swallowed as Shego, Ron and several of the GJ and Army special forces men looked at him sharply, "Seriously, we were hired on a secret contractual basis, and told it was mind control gas!"

"If that's true..." TJ drawled almost lazily, his face in a deep, disgusted scowl, "Then where's the train headed? An' when's it s'posed t' be passin' by?"

"Ron, Sheegs, how's things at the warehouse?" Kim's voice broke in through the chatter, once again on Team Possible's private network.

"One sec, KP!" Ron was agitated, even scared, knowing that he news he was about to hear would be five hundred miles of bad road.

"It's an ICE 3 train..." Reggie supplied worriedly, "Heading for Frankfurt... Passed by 'bout twenty minutes ag-..."

"Harry!" Shego roared into her headset, "The target is on that ICE 3 train that passed the area just as we were coming in!"

"You're shittin' me!" Harry objected, all decorum forgotten, "Damnitall, we have to leave people here to wait for backu-..."

"We'll handle it!" Kim cut in hurriedly, her breathing heavy, "We'll need to use the hoverjet to get there, though!"

"That's right..." Shego and Ron agreed, nodding at each other.

"We're landing now..." Harry called out, his orders to the pilot being heard over the connection.

"Jackson, Hobson, Grear, McClintock," TJ barked, "Get yer asses out t'cover the hove'jet!"

"Yes, Sergeant!" the men and women answered, dashing for the front doors.

"But..." Harry started, as if trying to object to the plan, "We need a decon tea-..."

"They're right, with all due respect, sir..." Lieutenant Lopez's voice was clipped and worried, but firm, "They're wearing those new suits we were supposed to be cross-training to use with GJ, but..."

"Damn, I didn't realize..." Harry stopped himself and the shaking of his head could almost be heard over the line, "Fine, get your asses out here, then!"

"We're on our way out now!" Ron said, already turning towards the door, Shego right on his heels and trying not to worry about something that they seemed to have missed...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Christian Petrov was a smart man. High marks all of his life, first in the old Soviet system's secondary schools, then in European universities when the USSR fell. He'd pulled himself up from the poverty, want and squalor of the old system, and made somewhat of a name for himself. He'd even managed, thanks to Mikhail Gorbachev's 'glasnost', he'd been allowed by the Party to study abroad, specifically in France.

Then the wall - and within such a short time, the entire Soviet architecture - fell. Of course, even if it hadn't, he'd met a girl, Celeste, and he would have stayed, even if the Soviet Union had remained intact. A beautiful, vivacious, petite girl that quickly became his world, as he had hers. She hadn't cared that he'd been from a poor, unimportant Soviet family, what impressed her had been his drive, his ability to pull himself up despite all of what should have held him down.

And he'd convinced her family, her _nouveau riche_, loving family, that he was worth it. He'd been happy, not because of the material wealth of her family, but the pure, unadulterated love they showered on Celeste, and upon him, when he'd proven not to care about her wealth or societal position, but for _her_. They'd wed within months, with the blessing of both of their families, a beautiful ceremony in the Loire Valley in mid spring.

A year and a half later, after they'd both graduated with honors, they'd started their family. She'd been four months pregnant when they'd visited her family's estate. His own mother, father and brother had been there, as well as his grandmother-in-law who loved him and his family as if he were born into her own... And in such a pastoral, beautiful setting, tragedy struck...

A house fire, is what it had been called, allegedly set by anarchistic arsonists. But Christian knew better! He'd seen the shadowy figures ghosting through the house, knew they'd been looking for secrets of the wealthy family, probably to blackmail them to support a given political group! They'd been dressed in military gear, and spoke in the French language, so they couldn't have been anything but...

He'd lost everyone... His wife and unborn child, his new family, his own family... _Everyone!_ And for his sorrows, he received half of the estate. His new family's extended family understood, and mourned with him. Over the next several months, however, they'd begun to die. He'd been suspected, at first. Of course he had! And he'd been easily discarded as a suspect. But he'd been warned...

He'd put money into secret accounts, sold real estate, items of worth, secreted it away... And he'd fallen into a deep, drug and alcohol fueled depression. Five years later, he'd hit rock bottom. Oh, he had his money... Cars, houses that he hadn't sold... But he missed the one thing he no longer had: family.

He'd gone around the world in a haze... Then he'd almost died at the remote hands of a mad scientist, under his growing robot, purchased by a young boy from that capitalist bastion, Bueno Nacho. A man that had been in and out of prisons for years by that point. It had enraged him! The same people that had damned him to a life without his family, had allowed such a worthless waste to go free, time and time and time again! He'd sworn, no more!

And then, he'd had a fortuitous meeting... A young woman, as beautiful, as perfect as Celest... His new love, his Elise, had introduced him to a group she belonged to... He'd carefully integrated himself into their fold, becoming indispensable to them, with monetary help, with his own intellect and his tenacity. And in return, he'd earned a new family, not only with Elise and their two young children, but with the men and women who'd sworn their very lives to the October Front for Worldwide Liberation.

Unlike Captain Stacks and his underlings, Christian knew what was on that train. He hadn't informed them of the plan's entirety, but he'd informed them of enough. He was, after all, the High Admiral of the Front! He smiled at the use of naval ranks for their upper echelon, and frankly, enjoyed that anachronism. So he'd sent them in, and trailed behind them, to set himself up in hiding, just in case...

And now, using his own powerful intellect and a powerful, computer driven communications hacking system, he knew he was close. Close to the major stepping stone the Front needed! In less than an hour, death would come down upon Frankfurt! If only he could stop that hoverjet from taking off again...

Then, in a stroke that proved the name of his plan, Kismet, was on his side, the hoverjet set down, opening its rear cargo access ramp _towards_ him! He might not be able to pull the entirety of the operation out of potential failure, but he could hamper them, and perhaps allow the supervillain that had set the poor woman up as his patsy his own victory. Of course, he'd have to make sure that the four soldiers now taking up proper guard positions around the hoverjet couldn't see him. He adjusted his position subtly, concluding that, if the man using the professor did succeed, he'd have to look into recruiting him.

But that would be later. After all, Christian had brought a weapon they had recently received, and were testing for a rich patron... It wasn't, on the face of it, a deadly weapon, as it was designed for use in 'less than lethal' situations. Essentially a man portable, shoulder fired mortar, it had recently been upgraded with Lorwardian technology to reduce the recoil further than the original technology had... And in its current incarnation, would show no flash to the opposition whatsoever.

And the round he was using was one requested by him personally. It had been for the professor making the nerve agent and her henchmen. After all, if she could make the agent, she could make the antidote! And OFWL just _couldn't_ have _that_! So, instead of the normal police level of pepper spray which used oleoresin capsicum or desmethyldihydrocapsaicin - which ranged from one and a half to two million Scoville Heat Units - the round he'd requested used pure capsaicin. Sixteen million Scoville Heat Units. The material was the purest state of the chemical, and would cause burns, blistering and, in high enough concentrations, death. So, if he could time and fire correctly, perhaps he could take out not only the command and control, but even their transpo-...

Then he saw the tall, rough looking American walking towards the back of the craft, giving orders to the pilot and co-pilot. The seemed to be arguing about something for a moment, but then, as three people clustered about the rear hatch, the pilot and co-pilot actually _stood up from their seats_! He knew, then, that kismet indeed was with him! Taking careful aim through the complicated targeting system, he waited, held his breath and depressed the firing stud.

The device kicked like a mule, but his shot flew in a slight arc over the four hundred and fifty meters to his target. He didn't bother sticking around, quickly scrambling over the hillock he'd stood atop. He quickly checked the short range wireless tablet he'd carried with him, tapping into the carefully secreted cameras he'd placed to watch over the warehouse. He smirked as he saw a flurry of activity, including the snipers scanning the hillock where his shot had come from. But they had no idea, no idea whatsoever that he'd fired, or exactly where he'd fired from!

Chuckling softly to himself, he went down to the building at the bottom of the hill, a comfortable vacation cottage. It was as nondescript as the nicely appointed BMW wagon idling in the garage, which he walked towards as if he had not a care in the world. When he got there, the rear window rolled down, and he handed to his wife the mortar, and she hurriedly stuffed it under their travel bags and clothing while addressing him, "Did your plan succeed?"

"Not completely, perhaps not at all if our opponents are lucky..." he murmured, starting the vehicle and pulling out of their rental vacation cottage, supposedly just a simple couple getting some alone time while their children spent time with their grandparents, "But I've hurt them... Global Justice _and_ the American Army! They'll know to fear me, eventually, my love..."

"I'm sure they will, Chris..." she whispered, lithely clambering over the center console to settle into the front passenger seat, and grabbed his face when he came to a stop at the main road. She pulled him over into a fiery yet brief kiss, staring deeply into his eyes, "If they don't already..."

Christian didn't bother glancing back towards the cottage, where various weapons, including an old Russian surplus mortar and two more of the capsaicin rounds were secreted... Along with the bodies of two OFWL agents who had given their lives using cyanide capsules, so that Christian and his wife could escape.

Soon enough, the fire that was spreading across their bodies would engulf the house, and protect OFWL's High Admiral Christian Petrov... As well as the Commander in Chief and Leader of the October Front for Worldwide Liberation, Elise Petrov...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Kim dashed around the front of the warehouse just in time to see Shay, Ron and Rufus coming out of the building. "What's the sitch?" she called out to them.

"Dunno..." Ron answered, just as they heard Harry barking an order to the pilot and co-pilot.

"Get this thing prepped for supersonic travel, _on the double_!" His voice brooked no arguments, but the pilot had to state an objection, nonetheless.

"Sir, I must respectfully submit an objection, as neither the craft nor myself as the pilot are certified for supersonic flight!" the pilot said in a proper, but obviously annoyed and despondent tone.

"Your objection is noted, yet my order stands." Harry barked as he began striding towards the back, though his tone softened slightly as he said, "Get Agent Du's permission if needs be."

"Yessir!" the GJ pilot's voice was less strained, before ordering the co-pilot to jump to it, "Y'heard the man, Gerry, release the interlocks!"

"Right!" the co-pilot answered, anticipation heavy in his voice as he jumped up from his seat to follow the order.

"What's going on, Harry?" Shay asked as she pulled up with Kim, who was standing by the rear hatch.

"I think we have no choi-..." Harry began, when a harsh bellow from Shay cut him off.

"Incoming!" She immediately pulled Kim and Ron back, Rufus hanging on to his human's shoulder tightly. Kim caught a quick moving streak of red, illuminated by the lights of the warehouse, streak past and into the rear of the hoverjet, even as the pilot ducked out into the main compartment and Harry dove for the rear hatch.

"Find the shooter!" one of the personnel that had taken up guard positions around the aircraft barked, even as there was a subdued whuff of compressed air from within the hoverjet.

Shay had drawn Team Possible down to the ground in case it had been an explosive round. They were immediately on their feet as they heard an intense, blood curdling scream that was quickly cut off into gurgling, choking coughs. Harry was up before Kim and Shay had barely set foot on the ramp.

Ron, Rufus still clinging to his shoulder, was barely a half step behind them as they dashed up the ramp, only to stop by literally running into a frozen Kim and Shay, joining them in staring confusedly at the tableau before them. A blue light not unlike the Kimmunicator's scan was bathing the interior of the aircraft. Meanwhile the co-pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Two Gerry Smith, who had managed to stumble halfway back to the loading ramp, fell and started rolling on the ground, clawing at his red, blistering face with blistered hands.

The half squad outside was making their way towards the rear, and Harry barked, "Keep in position, everyone!"

"But-..." Corproal Hobson began to object, but Harry's stern voice cut him off.

"That's an order, dammit!"

"What's wrong with him?" Kim begged, her eyes wide with horror and her hands going to cover the area of her facemask covering her mouth.

"Chemical agents detected in aircraft interior." a vaguely feminine voice intoned.

"Identify!" Harry barked as he sealed a facemask on his face before dashing towards the copilot, whose thrashing had thrown a few flakes of the powder covering his upper body on the right side of the pilots face.

"Capsaicin of at least ninety percent purity." the voice intoned, continuing in the same precise, passionless tone, "Recommended triage procedur-..."

"Cancel description..." Harry cut the machine off, "Dammit, this shit's everywhere..." His complaint was followed by a litany of curses as he tried to stop Gerry from scratching at his skin, which was only serving to spread the carnage the natural corrosive was causing. He pulled back as some of the dust settled onto his face and forearm, stinging and burning. "Someone get the medkit, there's shit in there to handle OC spray!"

"Already on it!" Lieutenant Lopez called from the front, having donned the head covering of an NBC suit as well as the gloves, Samson dressed similarly and holding an aerosol can in her hands, "But I don't know how useful this'll be if it's that pure..."

"Get Gerry first!" the pilot barked, his right eye already swollen half shut, the side of his face looking as if a weak car battery had splattered on the side of his face.

Samson was already down at Gerry's side, and shook her head sadly. "Too late!" She choked, holding her gloved fingers to the man's neck as a death rattle echoed through the compartment.

"Can we help?" Shay called out, and Harry shook his head negatively.

"Just keep out of the way..." Harry said firmly as Samson sprayed down his face and hand with the can.

"What about Gerry?" the pilot asked in a strained tone, and Harry shook his head.

"He's dead!" Harry barked, staring at the face of the man he'd come to consider a friend, "He must've gotten a lungful of the shit..."

"Dammit, Indra, stand still!" Samson growled at the pilot, spraying his face with the solution, even forcing his eye open to spray there.

"It did not get in my eye, would you relax!" he barked back, his West Bengali accent ever so slightly revealed in his agitation.

"Hobson, Grear, get in here and grab Gerry's body..." he sighed, then caught sight of a tearful Kim and shimmer eyed Ron, Rufus and Shego standing at the back of the hatch, "And get the rest of this damn shit sprayed, Samson!"

"Sir!" she barked, trying to keep her mind off of the loss of one of her best friends, despite the tears flowing freely from her eyes, "We might not have enough to get all of it..."

"Shit..." Harry started, but Shay stepped forward quickly to stop him from slamming his fist into the wall of the hoverjet.

Leaning in close to him, she whispered, "Let Ron, Kimmie and I clean it up... Our suits should protect us, and..." She dropped her voice further, whispering low enough so that no one else could hear. Whatever she said, however, answered any questions Harry might have had for her, and he nodded.

"Okay, Nightlight..." he sighed, "After you're done, we'll get whatever's left with... With the spray..."

"Status repoh't!" TJ barked over the comms, finally having had too much of the waiting, and Harry began to fill him in.

"We'll need dustpans and shit from the warehouse if they have them..." A few moments later, two privates came running out holding the requested items, and Ron was ushering Kim forward to help with the cleanup. She kept looking back towards where they had taken Gerry and shuddering, wondering what had happened, and if it would happen later.

"Princess!" Shay snapped, drawing her attention, "I know it's rough, but please, shake it off, for now..." Kim blinked at her, feeling as if her world was collapsing before her. She only snapped out of it when Shay and Ron both placed their hands on her shoulders. "Please, Princess? We need you..."

"I..." Kim choked, tears still freely flowing from her eyes when she finally whispered, "I'll try..."

"I..." Ron said haltingly, sighing slightly, "I think he had an allergic reaction, on top of inhaling this... This stuff..."

"And that makes it better?" Shay half snapped at him, still shellshocked at the man dying right before her eyes and leaving her unable to do anything about it. The same problem, she felt certain, that was part of Kim's reaction.

"No," Ron shook his head, a soft, apologetic smile on his face, "But... It explains it, and why we couldn't do anything to help him..."

Shay tensed, and Kim found herself looking back and forth between them. Rons explanation made sense, made... Against everything she felt, it made just standing there bearable, like when she'd been unconscious during the Lorwardian invasion, and Ron had stepped up and kil-... She blinked, snapping half straight and looking her love straight in the eye, reaching out a hand as if to cup his cheek, but stopping, dropping her hand to softly touch his hand as she remembered the compound they were cleaning.

"It's not your fault, either, Ronnie..." Her voice was a heavy whisper, pregnant with still unshed tears and pain, "No matter how much combat power the MMP gives you, some things just happen..." She almost sighed as her words and the tone struck home, as she saw her fiancé's shoulders relax, a few tears trailing down his face as he nodded minutely.

"Doesn't help make it easier, KP, but..." He let out a shuddering breath, shaking his head, "I just wish I had more than just combat strength from it!"

"If you'd've been a healer, Ron," Shay said softly, grasping his other hand lightly, "We'd have all died during the invasion..." Rufus made a sound of agreement, the look on his face one of an individual fine with the events as they'd happened, but understanding of his human companions' probably issues with it all. Ron nodded again, giving a small, if fragile, smile of thanks to Shay, before returning to his own cleaning.

Glancing about the cargo area, Kim noticed everyone else seemed too preoccupied and turned to Shay, touching her gloved hand as well and favoring her with a gaze that promised... Understanding, compassion, caring, and every other positive emotion she felt for the older woman, and continued in that same whisper, "It's _none_ of our fault... It... It's unfortunate, horrible, but it... It happens..." Kim took a breath as she saw the older woman relax, and then briefly clasped her hand in the older woman's.

Shay nodded almost imperceptibly at the comment, taking in Kim and Ron with it and sighed, giving the red-head's hand a squeeze before releasing it to return to sweeping as much of the capsaicin as they could, "Just hold it together 'til we're done... I think we could all do with some therapy after all this..."

"Indeed..." Harry said softly as he glanced down at the four of them, sighing, "We have to hurry... Samson, get this area doused with that shit, Bhuinya, finish prepping for supersonic-..."

"Who will pilot?" Indra cut in gently, glancing back and forth between those in the compartment, "I'm not going to be able to do much wi-..."

"I'll pilot to the scene!" Shay cut in, her voice firm, "I've got experience with both Drew's hovercraft and my own jet's got a control scheme that's identical to the one this thing has..." She glanced at Kim, smirking slightly, "And if you're _that_ worried about your eye, Kimmie can help you co-pilot 'til we get to the scene, I've heard she's good at it!" Kim stared at Shego, a bare ghost of a smile on her own face, before her melancholy and worry overtook it. The older woman gave her a soft smile, before adding, "Besides, I'm certified for supersonic flight, so no big..." Kim nodded distractedly as Samson began to clean her gloves off, having just finished with Ron's.

"Good!" Harry barked, even as Indra hurried to release the interlocks. "We have a plan, ladies and gentlemen, let's get to it!"

"Hey... Indra's your name?" Shay asked as Samson cleared the capsaicin from her gloves, "How different is this than the Mark XII hovercraft of Dr. Lipsky's?"

"Not too much, as far as the gravimetrics..." Kim shut out their voices as she went up towards the cockpit, ostensibly to stay out of the way.

"Kim..." Harry said, having followed her up to the front, "You okay?"

"I..." Kim whispered, hugging herself tightly, "I've seen death before... In assisting after natural disasters, when it'd already happened... But never up close, or... Or while it was happening..." She swallowed, glancing at the middle aged man with shimmering eyes, "And _never_ so... So violently..."

"You're doin' great, Kim..." Harry said with a rueful almost-chuckle, "First time I saw this kinda violence, I chucked my breakfast all over the place... And I hadn't eaten in almost nine hours at the time!"

Kim gave a weary, saddened half smile, "Thanks... I think." She reached up to open her cowl, and was about to scrub her eyes with her hands, when she remembered the material that had taken Gerry's life. She almost jumped out of her skin when Harry handed her a clean, folded cloth, and nodded thanks to him, wiping her eyes with it. "I'm so gonna have to talk to Nana again... She helped me deal with Ron ki-... _Killing_..." she said the word as if it were a challenge, her lips in a grim line, "When he killed the Lorwardians to save me... To save everyone..."

"She saw a lot of shit in her time, Kim..." Harry said in a tone too knowing to slip by Kim's notice, and she narrowed her eyes at him, "My granddad was one of her best friends in the Pacific, what'd be called a battle buddy now... I heard a lot about what she did. And I know from working with Global Justice that she saw a lot more after World War Two..." Harry nodded towards the cockpit proper, and the command couch set slightly above and behind the co-pilot's seat, "Go ahead and take my place there... I'll have to stay in back and coordinate... We're gonna have half the squad with us when we get to the train, and I'm going to arrange medivac... Just in case."

"Thanks..." Kim sighed and nodded, centering herself and slowly slipping back into 'mission mode'. It had been almost seven precious minutes since the hoverjet had set down, and she could hear the sounds of heavy helicopters, most likely Blackhawks, inbound. She needed to keep her mind with it, and she would be _damned_ if she didn't finish this mission!

Another minute later, Indra and Shay came up front, strapping themselves in and performing a fast double check on the systems, Indra with Kim's help. "Everything is nominal!" Indra said, his face tight.

"Let's do this..." Shay growled, "Everyone strapped in? Even with the inertial dampeners there'll be some G's!" A chorus of affirmation came out of the back as she lifted off, using the vector thrust to its fullest and when enough forward momentum was generated, the main engines. With the anti-gravity system assisting, the rate of climb was just over two hundred meters per second. At the same time, she was angling the aircraft towards the bearing they'd need to intercept the train.

"This is GJ-X-Zero-Three-Niner, emergency call Zulu-Zulu-Three, X-ray, Alpha Priority." Indra called into his radio as Shay took the craft up at a sixty degree angle, informing German air traffic controllers that the craft was going supersonic, "Be advised, our bearing will be Two-Five-Three, True, flight level will be 235, repeat, bearing Two-Five-Three, True, flight level 253."

The incredible climb leveled off quickly and they transitioned to level flight, and Shay had a strange smile on her face. The acknowledgement of their intent received and all flights diverted to safety, Inra nodded at the pale woman, and she grunted. It was an adrenaline fueled, almost aroused sound as she said, "Time to knock on the sky, and make a sound..."

The shockwave of the hoverjet's sonic boom echoed across the sky for kilometers...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"There's the train!" Kim called out as they crested a hill, coming across it right above the tunnel the train had blasted through. They had dropped to nape-of-the-earth flight less than thirty seconds earlier, and were now flying above and to the left of the train.

"Damn, that's fast..." Ron almost whined, his head snapping to the power line poles for the train, which passed by at second and a half intervals.

"Be glad they're only moving two hundred k-per!" Kim quipped, earning a scowl from Ron, which earned a slap on the shoulder from Kim, "If we hadn't called them to keep the speed slow after the town they just passed they'd be closer to three hundred..."

"We only have a little over four miles before they have to speed up to fool the backup GPS thingy that'll launch the weapon anyway!" Ron objected, rubbing his shoulder as if Kim's slap had actually hurt.

"Calm down, Ron, we can do this!" Kim snapped, a little harsher than she'd planned. She sighed and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, "Sorry, Ron, I'm just..."

"No worries, KP, the Ron-man understands..." he muttered lovingly, leaning down to kiss her in turn, this one on the lips. _I hope you're right, KP..._ he thought, adding aloud, "So the plan's to have Wade hack the machine and disable the GPS, then disconnect the cars, right?"

"Yup!" Shay sighed out, shaking her head at the two lovers' antics, glancing over at the Indian man, "Okay, Indra, think you can handle it from here?"

"I think so," Indra grimaced, "But are you sure the jet can handle the motion without flipping if we do have to approach sideways?"

"Piece of cake!" Shay smiled, "Like I said, just up the grav settings to increase the stability, and match speeds using the jets only..."

"I hope you're right..." he whispered, his birth accent all but gone and replaced by an one almost straight out of a high class bar in London, "Matching speed... Now. Grav is at five Gs, I hope it doesn't affect the grapnels..."

"It won't..." Kim assured him as she stood, "Good luck, Indra..."

"You too!" he called back as Kim, Ron, Rufus and Shay hurried their way to the rear of the hoverjet. Ron reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a thin, clear piece of plastic and secured it to the slit his balaklava left open, and Rufus made his way into the pocket Ron had left open. Ron sealed it, saying, "One or two minutes and I'll get ya out, Rufus!"

"Okies!" Rufus called out, and Ron sealed him in.

"We have one hundred and fifteen seconds to get everyone down..." Harry was finishing his briefing of Kim and Shay's audacious plan. They'd learned, from memories still foggy in Professor Kempinski's mind, that there was a failsafe on the weapon, set up to launch its payload if the train fell too far behind its schedule, or dropped below one hundred kilometers per hour. Unfortunately, this particular train was well chosen, as it didn't have any stops until Frankfurt, barely twenty minutes away.

"You ever feel like you're living a part of that one stupid ass movie? The one with the bomb on the bus that can't drop below fifty?" Shay asked, earning some chuckles from the selected men and women.

"Y'would think of that, wouldn't ya, Darlin'?" TJ drawled, his voice muffled by the HALO facemask he wore. His comment earned more chuckles from those in the compartment, "Ah still don' know why yoah t'one t'try an' disarm it..."

Shay leaned in and whispered to him, quietly enough that Kim couldn't hear, "Don't tell Princess, but it's 'cause Wade calculated my physiology, being half extraterrestrial, and my healing, gives me an eighty percent chance of resisting the toxin if it's released. Besides," She pulled back when his eyes widened, speaking in a normal tone, "I've got some thieving skills and natural talents that should prove useful if the damn thing's booby trapped!"

"Just be careful, Darlin'..." TJ said softly, concern lacing his voice heavily, "Silvia would _nevah_ fohgive me if Ah was able t'help ya and somethin' happened t'ya..."

"Whatever, Swede..." Shego snipped with a grin, giving the big man an impromptu hug before glancing at the rear hatch, "Do it, Harry."

Harry brought his boom mic to his mouth and called out, "Dropping the tail, Indra!" and hit the switch. Shay reached up and hooked her safety harness to the overhead drop chute line, as did Kim, and Ron hooked up on the one opposite them. They were directly above the first car forward of the middle train joint, and Ron swallowed nervously as Kim glanced at her target.

"Ready?" Kim asked, and Shay nodded, both of them venturing out to the end of the drop ramp in a crouch. Kim launched her grapnel, and crowed in delight as it struck true. She pulled out about two and a half meters of slack, and, line in hand, gave a command to her wrist grapnel to cut the line. She handed the line to Ron, who looped it quickly to his side, which gave a safer angle to the descent, and gave a thumbs up. Kim detached her safety line and grabbed onto her grapnel line and glanced at Harry, "Ok, dropping, hand me that line, Harry!"

"Careful, Princess!" Shay called out.

"Right behind ya, KP!" Ron said, and Kim dropped. She slid down the line, being buffeted by the two hundred kilometer per hour wind. Ron found himself concentrating on everything except how close the lines were to Kim as she slid down; he concentrated on how thankful he was that she had a facemask on, and for the supergrip gloves Wade had designed to go over the suits. Then he sighed in relief as she glanced up after securing the line to the car and gave them a thumbs up.

Shay disconnected her line and moved over beside Ron, who hefted his own forty five meter line and looped it around his neck and under his left shoulder. He secured his safety line to the line Kim had carried down and glanced at Shay, "Better get your own mask on, Sheegs!"

"Right..." She muttered, connecting her safety line reaching down to leg pouch, pulling out a thin cowl similar to Kim's.

Kim was already crawling forward, securing a line around the pantograph shroud for the fourth car, then crawling as quickly as she dared to the next car. Ron touched down and secured one end of his rope to the secure point Kim had established, then began to crawl back along the fifth car. If what Ariana had told them was right, the car he was crawling on would be the car with the weapon. He made quick work of crawling back to the next shroud, his hands glowing a slight blue, and he couldn't help but shout jubilantly, "Mystical Monkey powers are go!"

"Great, Sport!" Shego chuckled over the headset, "Just hope they stick around, or it could hurt... A lot!"

"As if!" Kim protested as she secured a line around the third car's pantograph shroud, "My Ron's good even _without_ the MMP!" Ron saw her glance back just as TJ carefully shimmied down the line she'd established from the hoverjet, and the blond prayed that everyone else would make it down safely.

"Fohty-fahve secon's, get yoah asses movin', squad!" TJ growled over his headset, as another of the men, one of the GJ operatives, slid down, timing the quick drop perfectly between two of the overhead line's support poles.

"I'm at the three-four junction!" Kim called out, "Inform the staff I'm cutting the boot between the cars..."

"Done!" Wade said, speaking for the first time since the plan had started, "They're ready, and they've moved people to the front two cars already, Kim..."

"'Kay, Wade, thanks!" Kim replied, "You rock as usual! Cutting my way in..."

"I'm at the five-six junction!" Ron called, "So's Sheegs! If you would, Wade?"

"Already on it!" Wade said, even as TJ's voice came over the network.

"Grear, McClint'ck, yoah rear, Simons, with me up front!" TJ barked, as Simons moved her hook from the descent line to the line Kim had set up for making their way to the front. TJ cut the descent line just below the level of the overhead power line for the train, the tension causing it to snap up and above the level of the lines themselves. The line was rapidly hauled back into the hoverjet as it rose up perhaps twenty meters and paced the section of the train Kim was on. TJ rapidly tied the slack to the attachment point and the other two lines Kim and Ron had established, "Down an' secure!"

"We're in." Ron said with a near chuckle as Shay lit up and slashed the rubber boot between the trains easily. The timing was perfect for establishing the opening, as the train began to pick up speed a few seconds later.

He dropped down and held his hands up to Shay, who almost literally fell into his arms because of the windspeed increase. She placed her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, and blinked down at him a couple times, before shaking her head distractedly, "Thanks..."

"So am I." Kim said in response to Ron's notification. He glanced to the car they were supposed to break into, hoping to see Kim, and then slapped his hand into his face as he remembered the car was closed up. That was apparently quite unusual for the trains, from what they'd been told, but not unheard of when celebrities were aboard and wanted privacy, especially when an established henchman was one of the train's conductors. Luckily, when they informed him the plot was bordering on terrorism, and that a terrorist group was going to go for the device, he'd followed Union procedures to the letter. "As soon as TJ and Simons are here, I'll move to the rear of the fourth car and see about decoupling them."

"And I'll get into the fifth and make sure the GPS is disabled when Grear and McClintock get here to keep the curious at bay." Shay answered back, then she looked at Ron and pulled him out of the line of sight of anyone from the cars ahead.

"I can't believe they locked the controls out for the trip 'cause of a bogus email..." Grear griped as he dropped in behind Shay and Ron, only to get smacked in the back of the head by McClintock as she dropped behind him.

"Supervillains cen fake-oup things vera well, y'daft foo'!" the red-headed Irishwoman chuckled, "So calm yir ass down!"

"Right, right..." the American said with a grin audible in his voice, quickly moving towards the back, where there were already people trying to shove past the conductors to get their bags and other niceties... And a few that recognized Shego, calling out to her as they lifted camera phones and a couple actual cameras to try and get images of them.

When McClintock closed the door to the car, Ron sagged against the closest wall, relaxing noticeably, "I hope they understand what's going on..."

"Maybe." Shay smiled oddly at him, and he raised an eyebrow as she reached up to mute her headset's mic.

"What?" his tone was jocular, despite the last hour's worth of tension, and he reached up as if to wipe at his nose, "Something on my face?"

"No..." Shay stared at him, then reached out and muted his headset's mic, too.

"Um, Shay..." he said as he saw the look in her eyes, one that mixed consternation, concern, confusion, hope and perhaps a little of what she had in her eyes every time she looked at Kim.

"Ron, before we do this..." Shay's voice was breathless, worried, and she bit her lip for a moment before pushing on in a rush, "I just wanted to know, for sure, if you're _really_ okay with how me and Kimmie have been... Together, and stuff."

"Of course!" Ron said, a bit sharply, a frown coalescing on his face, "Shay... I meant it when I said it was okay! I'm completely serious..."

"I..." Shay nodded, a soft, worried smile on her face. Then her smile dropped slightly, and she took a deep breath, her eyes hooding as if she were trying to hide her emotions. "I know, I'm sorry. Ron, the weapon in there... Ariana said it might go off with the slightest tampering... And I'm not sure if my healing ability will counteract it. If... If something happens, I just want to let you two kno-..."

"Shay!" Ron snapped, holding a finger to her lips with one hand, his other on her cheek, "Shay, please... You'll be fine, 'kay?"

"No, Ron!" She snapped, slapping his hands away, "There's no guarantee of that! Corporal Jones and the spotter for Squad Bravo _might_ die, the co-pilot and _both_ of Squad Delta _did_ die! It could happen, even to one of us!" She reached out and grabbed the hands she'd just slapped away and brought them back up, kissing his knuckles and giving him an apologetic gaze, "I'm sorry for snapping, but it's true... And I just wanted you and Kimmie to know how I feel..."

Ron waited as she looked down, her breath suddenly shuddering as she continued, "Ronnie, I... I came close to loving again, not long after Harley... After he was killed... But after that? I hadn't even thought about it for years... _Years_, Ron... I thought I might find something with Drew, but..." She shrugged and glanced back up, spearing him with the weight of fear visible in her eyes, "Now... Now, I've fallen for Kimmie, _hard_... I..." She sighed and cocked her head, "I like you, too, a _lot_... But, with Kimmie... I know myself well enough to know that I've fallen, Ron, and not just lust... It scares me _so_ much... Terrifies me... How _hard_ I fell, how _quick_..."

"Shay..." Ron said as she looked away again, towards the closed door to the car. Letting go of her hands to place his own on her shoulders, "So you love KP, so what?" Shay looked back at him, seeming ready to snap at him until she saw the goofy smile on his face, "It's badical! And you like me... I like you, _too_, and KP's... I'm pretty sure she's crushing on you, if not at the same place you are... I don't _know_ that, but..." He shrugged and chuckled, "I don't know _what's_ gonna happen, between the three of us... But I promise, I'm fine with _whatever_ happens, okay? And you _know_ KP's gonna be fine with it!" The former thief opened her mouth to speak, but Ron cocked his head slightly, "So is that all that had you worried?"

"I guess..." a grimace touched her face, before she smiled slightly and chuckled, "Dammit... I had this whole thing about what I was gonna say worked out in my head, and I really dropped the ball..."

"Nah," Ron dismissed her worry, "Like you just said, you haven't felt like this in years, right?" Shay nodded at him, her head cocking in silght confusion, "So you've got the right to be a little rusty! Besides, you got my dumb skill backing you up, so no big, right?"

"Doofus..." she sighed, shaking her head slightly in amusement, before forcing herself to slip back into the attitude she normally showed the world, "And I don't need dumb luck, when I've got _skills_..."

"Atta girl!" Ron chuckled along with her, but they were cut off when both TJ and GJ's Agent McClintock called that they were clear and ready.

As soon as the announcement came across the headsets, Shay then fixed the blond with a near glare, speaking seriously, "Ron... If something happens, tell Princess how I feel 'bout her, 'kay? That I... That I'm pretty sure... That I _am_ in love with her." Ron opened her mouth but she spoke again before he could, "_Promise_ me..."

"Promise." Ron nodded solemnly, and Shay's face relaxed somewhat.

"And... Make sure you keep your head down... Don't you go getting yourself hurt, okay?" Shay's face relaxed almost completely when Ron nodded again, and she blew out a cleansing breath, "I still haven't worked out how you... How I work with you and Kimmie, and _you_ work with her and I in all this..." She let out a light, salaciously tinged laugh, "Other than making Kimmie growl like an angry alley cat when you tease her!" They both laughed briefly, and she made as if to pull away, but smirked and drew closer, her eyelids lowering in a seductive manner and cupped his face in her hands. Looking down into his eyes, as if trying to look into his soul, she whispered huskily, "Maybe I _will_ take some of that dumb luck of yours, after all!"

"Shay, wha-mmph!" Ron's eyes flew wide as she leaned into that small space and gave him a solid kiss on the lips...

**Author's Notes**

Well... That's quite a way to give someone like Shego a bit of your luck, eh? Then again, Shego seems to need all the luck she can get, so who can begrudge her taking it as she sees fit, non? And... A lot of things happening in the chapter, things that some of the crew are familiar with, things others are not... Time will tell what kind of effect this will have in the future...

Just to let everyone know, this is the penultimate chapter of this fic, and chapter 20 will be the epilogue. Obviously, the story is not complete, merely Book I, and it will continue after chapter 20 is posted, I promise!

As always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work. As well, remember everyone, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember: if ya like a fic, give the author a review!


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Forward**

And here it is, the final chapter! Twenty chapters and well over 225,000 words, and I still have an epilogue - which is already partially written - coming up... One which will be, I hope, a nice send off for Vacation from the Norm, Book I. For all my readers, a bit of a hint for this chapter and the epilogue: it's an ending, but a beginning in more ways than one...

And now... Review replies!

Jimmy1201: glad ya liked the action and the character development. I've always believed that, sometimes, some of the best, or most intense, character development can come within moments of action. It doesn't always happen that way - in fiction or in real life - but considering moments of action tend to be emotionally charged, that chance is always there.

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations.

Robert Teague: thanks for the review, and I'm very happy to hear you think the fic's a good read! I try my best to present a story that's engaging and enjoyable. I'm also glad to hear you'll be awaiting the next chapter!

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

The woman couldn't believe how well her plan was going. She kept having to pinch herself, and stop herself from tempting fate by wonderin-... She barely resisted the temptation to slap herself, and did discreetly pinch her belly under the uniform. The negative reinforcement, since she honestly didn't like pain, was helping her focus and rid herself of that horrid tendency. "Dr. Director!"

"Yes, Agent Blonski?" she answered, turning towards the communications technician with a serious expression to match the tone in her voice.

"We have a second emergency burst transmission from Agent Du!" the young woman gasped, her homely, freckled face worried as she glanced at the communiqué, "It's bad, ma'am!"

"Thank you," she held out her hand, and the agent handed her the folder holding the hardcopy. The auburn haired woman read the report summary and cursed, a rare thing for Betty Director, but not unheard of in similar situations. "Damn... Get... EU Director Depardieu and call Middle Eastern Director Bilgin in from his meeting with the EU Commission on Civil Rights, get them to the main conference room ASAP! If this is right... Call in Chinese Area Director Xian, India Director Sengupta, and Pan-Asian Director Yhee on vid, full encryption and scramble. Tell them no more than twenty minutes, Agent Blonski!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the young agent saluted and ran off without another word.

_So efficient..._ she let herself smile inwardly, but only briefly, which helped her maintain the professionally worried exterior expression as she read the report. _OFWL..._ she shook her head in disgust, _Bastards... They make Gemini at his worst look like he's set for canonization for sainthood!_

She almost laughed at the thought. _If only the fool knew..._ She shook her head, then sighed slightly. She hated to admit it, but the late evening and even later morning she'd spent at the secret rendezvous had been... A lot more than she'd expected. And a lot _better_ than she'd expected. She entered the elevator that would take her to the floor she needed to get to and thought back, briefly losing herself to the memory...

_She had risen slowly through the foggy mists of unconsciousness, shuddering occasionally as afterimages of the nightmare passed through her mind, unabated by the control of full consciousness. It had seemed so long a journey, but had only been minutes before enough consciousness had returned to allow reasoned thought. She had stiffened at the sensation of a warm body behind her; a nude, male body no less. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation from the woman, but it was one that she hadn't felt for some months, and she had to admit, it was not a bad thing at all._

_Shuddering again, but not from the nightmare, she had stretched into the warm body next to her, a lazy grin on her face. No, this shudder had been from memories; intense, lovely memories of some of the best sex - perhaps_ the _best sex - she'd ever had! Who knew the man had it in him?_

_Feeling the man stirring behind her, in more ways than one, she had smirked and made a show of just waking up herself. She'd 'accidentally' brushed her firm rear against the man's stiffening member, and had been rewarded with a much faster engorgement of that particular organ. Feeling him fully harden, she'd made a much more obvious display, spreading her legs just enough that the swollen head of his hardness slid along her still slick nether lips. When he groaned, she sighed out in anticipation, "Ready again, Shelly?"_

"_Hnnngh..." Sheldon 'Gemini' Director, she'd thought, was_ not _the most articulate of men when he woke from a nap in that particular state, at least until he'd spoken, "Betty, we agreed that this first meeting wouldn't take more than three hours..."_

"_And we still have a half hour..._ Big _Brother..." she'd tittered, reaching behind her, gently caress the man's surprisingly long, girthy member and nestling the tip within her. He'd responded by rolling her over onto her belly and, despite his worry, teasing his way into her. She'd had to half bury her face in the motel room's pillow, smiling in delight even as she let out a breathy, embarrassed moan, "More than enough for your tight little sister to bring you off enough until our next meeting?"_

"_Oh, I'd say so..." Gemini had whispered, leaning down and kissing her shoulder with a passion and... Love... She had neither anticipated nor expected to enjoy quite so much, "_Little_ Sister..." She'd known that, with his size and position, she'd beat him to orgasm, but she hadn't cared... And she'd let him keep going until he'd spent himself within her. She would swear she still felt the aftershocks of her orgasm..._ Orgasms_... Hours later..._

The bing of the elevator stopping at her floor startled her out of her daydream, and made her painfully aware of just how aroused she was. _At least I have a sensible selection of panties for work!_

She let a sardonic, dry smirk cross cross her face as she walked to the doorway to the conference room, wondering what was happening to her. She'd never had any problems with _that_ kind of relationship, of course, but... She'd never felt that depth or intensity of passion... Of _love_... In sex before... It was a heady, indeed _addictive_ brew...

And she couldn't help but wonder what was happening to her as she swept into the room; the man was her... Betty Director's... Brother. It should be completely, utterly disgusting, and it was just a convenience... Right?

She shook her head to shake away the thought and favored GJ EU Director Depardieu with a grim smile, "Has everyone present been briefed, Durant?" The portly man nodded and Betty nodded in satisfaction, "Good! I've asked for your presence to brainstorm about the information Second Du and his team found..." As the brainstorming session started, she found that she was looking forward to the following Wednesday, and sharing her body with her dear brother Sheldon again...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Shay, wha-mmph!" Ron's words cut off as Shego leaned in and kissed him on the lips. She'd intended to make it a quick, sharp buss, but, like Ron, her eyes flew open when they made contact. There wasn't fireworks, or some magical spark like a romance novel per se, but it was _anything_ but what she'd expected.

First was the fact that his lips were soft, almost _feminine_... More feminine, in fact, than his own fiancée! She'd been surprised, when kissing Kim's full, luscious lips, to find that they were firm; not masculine, but not nearly the feminine softness she was used to with another woman. Ron, however, was so... Different... _It's almost like kissing Vivi!_ The startling realization almost made Shego break the kiss, but when Ron slid his eyes closed, something inside, some devilish, tittering little voice in her head urged her to find out just how _much_ like kissing Vivi it was.

And in that moment, despite her worries - about her feelings for Kim, her worries after reliving Harley's death in front of Ron and Kim both, the upcoming life-or-death sitch - she gave into the voice. She slid her eyes shut, and let her tongue gently probe at his still parted lips. He responded by parting his lips a little more, and returning that gentle probe with one of his own. It wasn't a competition to see who'd give ground first; that was how her last makeout session with Kim had been. Instead, it was the same gentle, inquisitive sharing of her first kiss with Kim, and she _knew_ she liked it. _God, they're_ both _amazing kissers..._ She let the kiss go on for several moments, before sighing softly through her nose and pulling back, slightly breathless, and smiled down at the blond.

"Wow..." he was as breathless as she was, and his goofy grin was, if anything, bigger than she'd ever seen it outside of kissing his fiancée.

She couldn't help but to reach out and tousle his hair before leaning back into him and giving him a hug and the quick peck she'd first intended, whispering in his ear, "Like I said, I think I'll take some of that luck with me!"

With that, she unmuted his headset as well as her own, pulled back from him and strode confidently to the door separating the cars. "Wade, can I get a scan of the door, here?"

"On it, Shego..." the young man said, a blue light lancing out from the Kimmunicator, "No security that I can detect..."

"So I'll have to check for tripwires myself." she chuckled, "Thanks, now the coupler..."

"Scanning..." Again the blue light played across the coupling between the cars, and Wade sighed in relief, "Same as the one Kim and TJ are at."

"Okay, Princess, TJ, what's the sitch on your end?" Shego knew her voice was confident, but she was starting to feel a little light headed. _Probably the fact that if Ronnie or I screw up and fall, it'll be fatal for either of us!_

"We're gonna have to cut the power from the coupling, like we figured..." Kim griped, and Shego nodded.

"Okay, do it," Shego said firmly, "As soon as you're a half click ahead of us, let us know, and Ron'll cut this end..."

"Wait, why Ron?" Kim and Wade asked at the same time.

"Well, 'cause," Shego said in such a reasonable tone that she just as well have been talking about the clouds in the sky, "I'm going to be checking the door for tripwires and such, and if there's none, I'm going to be in the car!"

"Be careful, Shay!" Kim snapped, the worry in her tone notching up noticeably.

"I will, Cupcake!" Shego said aloud. In her own mind, she was gibbering excitedly, _She cares! She cares! She cares! She cares!_ She had a huge grin on her face as she carefully slid the door open, barely giving herself one millimeter of space.

She was reaching for her ankle pouch when she felt the train lurch slightly, and Kim's voice came over the headset loud and clear, "We're loose..." A brief instant later, it beeped twice with the Team Possible private channel indicator. "Be careful, Ron... Shay... I don't want to lose either of you..."

"No problemo, KP!" Ron chirped over the private channel, ready with the masculine version of Wade's lipstick laser, a body spray laser.

Shego almost roared a laugh as she spied it, and shook her head as she answered Kim across the private channel as well, "See ya in a few, Princess... Promise!"

From her ankle pouch she removed a thin plastic device that looked like small music player. There was a length of thin wire with a little bulb just under a millimeter in diameter at the tip. When she turned it on, the screen showed a view of the interior of the car, and she panned the camera around, sighing in relief as she saw no wires leading to the door. Over the general channel, she said, "Wade, door's clear, going inside."

"Good luck..." several voices cut in, and she grunted an affirmative.

Easing the door open she noticed that all of the sunshades were drawn shut, and that the device was sitting almost dead center of the car. It was squat looking despite standing a little under two meters tall, due to being just over three meters wide. It was vaguely egg shaped, and it had three legs, all of which were bolted to the floor. Shego could see that the bolts were set up with sensors, which probably led to failsafes built into the device. There were three large gauge electrical cables leading into the bottom of the machine, which was where it obviously got its power. Pursing her lips, she approached and held up her arm, "Scan time, Nerdlinger..."

"On it!" Wade answered, the blue beam having sprung out before Shego had finished her first comment.

"Smart ass..." Shego quipped, smiling at the young man's efficiency. _If we'd've had someone like this on the team, I probably would've been able to stick it out..._ she thought idly.

She shook off the thought as the rapid fire tapping of keyboards came through the headset. "Oh, boy..."

"What?" Shego grated, briefly reconsidering her last thought.

"Trouble..." Wade said, then glanced at his screen, "Shego, there's so much going on in that thing electronically, it'll take me ten minutes to sort it all out! I think the stuff that's screwing up my scan is only close to the surface..."

"So..." Shego drew out the word, "Since we don't _have_ ten minutes... I'll check with my remote cam..." She walked over to the device and fished her remote camera out to its full length and pushed it into the small hole where the power cables entered. She couldn't see much, but did see that the interior was basically naked. "Looks clear... Open it?"

"You'll have to!" Wade's tone was annoyed and worried, "And pray that there's not failsafes on the inner the surface area that you can't see..."

"We're at the safe distance..." Kim called out.

"Decoupling..." Ron said from the sixth car, and he activated his laser. An instant later, there was a flash of sparks and the cars shuddered as they decoupled. Shego turned away consider how to open the device, but before the cars could separate more than a few centimeters, Ron called out. "Hey, Sheegs!" Shego looked back in time to see Rufus flip and land at her feet, "He insisted..."

"Hey, Bud..." Shego smiled down at him as he slipped a clear film similar to Ron's over his eyeslit. She pointed at the device when he was done, "I can't get a good look inside, d'you thin-..."

"Ayup-yup!" Rufus interrupted her with a thumbs up, then he quickly signed, "You owe me a bowl in Amsterdam!"

"No problem, bud..." Shego nodded at him, and he jumped to his task. She glanced out the door and watched as the train car behind them rapidly slowed, and Ron gave her a wave and a thumbs up. She waved back and sighed as he turned and got back into the car, raising her fingers to touch her lips. _He's_ definitely _a great kisser!_

About fifteen seconds later, Rufus came out of the device, paler than normal, and shook his head, "Bad!" he squeaked, shivering in fear. He quickly signed, "Top is all full of security measures, bottom has three GPS chips, and I hear capacitors charging, and it stinks lik-..."

Before he finished his report, the train lurched as the batteries lost enough power for the drive wheels to kick off and the safety brakes to kick in. Shego was barely able to keep her feet, and Rufus' claws dug into the carpet, keeping him from tumbling towards the open front of the car. "Wade, the train's stopping!"

"I noticed!" Wade was typing rapidly, "Kim, Ron, make sure no one leaves the cars!"

Shego was about to say more when the sound of the car's pantograph shroud opening and the pantograph extending echoed inside the car. As soon as it had snapped into place, the device's top split open like a four sided clamshell, revealing eight wicked looking missiles that could easily hold about two and a half liters of the liquid form of the toxin. "Wade?" Shego's voice was a singsong of tension as she stepped closer and looked into the device, and the Kimmunicator began to scan it. There was a set of actuators already moving the missiles about, and Shego realized they were out of time. "Can my plasma destroy the compound?"

"Probably," Wade was obviously chewing on his lip as he said it, but Shego couldn't tear her eyes away from the launcher, "But only as a last resort, 'cause I detect some explos-..."

"Shit!" Shego's curse cut the young genius off; only years of training and a finely honed survival instinct allowing her to jump out of the way as two lasers flashed out from devices innards and began to cut away a section of the train's roof.

"Shay!" Ron and Kim both called out, but Shego wasn't listening as she spun around.

As soon as she was turned, she ducked and rolled, picking up the now running Rufus before falling into two one handed handsprings to reach the door. She saw a stout looking tree about ten meters away from where they'd stopped, and hoped that would be far enough. "I stay!" the naked mole rat's tone was vehement, but Shego was already in the motion of throwing.

"Sorry, Bud, but Ronnie and Kimmie would kill me if anything happened to you!" she called out to him as he chittered angrily through the air. _And I'd never forgive myself!_ she added to herself. Seeing Rufus right himself and catch on a branch, she continued, "Stay in cover, Bud!"

She spun back around and glared at the device as the missiles stopped their tracking motions, and flared up one of the hottest flames she'd ever used, "Wade, I'm doing it!"

Adrenaline focused her world into stark perception. Time seemed to slow as she concentrated her plasma into a ball almost the size of a beachball, then launched it at the device. Shego aimed the blast about two thirds of the way up the missiles' bodies, hoping to vaporize as much of the toxin as she could. She wasn't sure what the missiles were waiting for, but whatever it was, it gave her plasma enough time to strike them perfectly.

As she ducked behind the front wall of the car, she saw the aluminum missile bodies vaporize, giving her plasma an odd brownish tinge, and an instant later it switched to a sickly yellow; she could only guess by the odd coloring that the compound within was being destroyed as well. She could only hope that her position would mitigate some of the explosive force of her plasma and the missile's fuel. In fact, if she were lucky, she'd get away with ruptured eardrums if her earplugs failed, which should heal within the span of a few minutes.

It was a solid idea; the explosion from the plasma ball striking the missiles and their fuel would have been impressive, but the wall she ducked behind would have been protection enough. However, the fifteen kilograms of Semtex plastic explosive in the body of the device was not as forgiving. The opening that the device had cut into the roof of the car helped vent some of the explosive force, but more than enough existed to literally pop the front and rear walls of the car from their moorings, and split the car into thousands of pieces of aluminum, composite and various other materials.

The pressure wave hit Shego an instant before the front wall did, rupturing one eardrum severely as the earplug failed. Several of her ribs gave way when the front wall struck her, engendering a memory that suddenly felt more pleasant than what was happening to her, that of crashing into the control tower for the Li'l Diablos almost a year and a half earlier... But the control tower seemed the lesser between them, despite the lack of electrical discharge.

Drew and Wade had warned her of the fact that although the suit was nearly bulletproof, because of her requested design, strong impacts could still break bones. Then she was hit in the perfect spot for a liver punch; a chunk of debris had shot through the wall to hit her. Luckily, it's sharp, jagged end had been rounded by the impact and slowed enough not to penetrate her suit, but combined with the shockfront of the explosion, it literally split her liver into three pieces.

Then she was flying headlong, another piece of debris bouncing from her torso to strike her left upper arm, the humerus suffering a partial fracture. She did notice that Rufus was surrounded by a hazy blue glow, his face full of worry, anger and fear for her, and she was surprised she had enough wits to make sense of it.

_Oh, shit, bud, you have monkey powers too?_ flitted through her mind at incredible speed, _No wonder you wanted to stay..._ She hoped he saw her apologetic gaze in the few instants before she struck the ground on her left side, where four of her eight broken ribs pierced her lungs deeply. Her left humerus broke the rest of the way as she struck and she dug a dozen meter long furrow into the stones of the railbed. She didn't flip completely, but ended up on her left side, her left arm out in front of her at an odd angle, facing away from the tracks...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Kim heard the explosion on the Kimmunicator, and was immediately calling out, "Shay?" Just under five seconds of silence later, the sound of the explosion echoed over the car. "Shay!"

Ron's voice, equally as concerned quickly followed Kim's voice, "Shay, answer us!"

"Ron... Ki-..." Shay's voice came over the airwaves, but staticky as if her headset or Kimmunicator was damaged. She coughed, and Kim stared at the image on her screen as it swayed wildly, and the older woman moaned in pain. Kim was already out of the car and waving her other arm for the hoverjet to set down.

"What's wrong, Shay?" Kim begged, even as the image stabilized slightly, revealing a paler than usual Shay, blood running from her left ear and mouth from very close. She was laying on her side, staring at the Kimmunicator from her position, and her face was a show of agony.

"Princ...ess... I..." the older woman sighed out, smiling slightly despite her obvious agony. The sight was grizzly, with blood staining her teeth and pale cheek, but Kim somehow managed to keep her cool as she boarded the hoverjet, not bothering to acknowledge Harry as she moved away from the side door. "I... Stopped... It..." She managed, winking, "No... Big..." She muttered a few content sounding, but incomprehensible words before coughing again, covering the camera of the Kimmunicator in a red coating and falling unconscious.

"Medivac and cover at-..." Harry began, but Kim's world fell into stark focus as she stared at the Kimmunicator screen.

_No..._ she begged the ether, a few tears springing to her eyes, _No, Shay..._ "Hold on, Shay, we're coming..." she choked out, before she realized Ron was trying to speak to her.

"KP, get to her, we have a problem her-..." Kim flinched as she heard gunfire from close to Ron, then static, "Get the hoverjet here, more OWFL goons!"

"Ron?" she begged, then glanced at Harry, "You heard?"

"Yes." Harry nodded, and Kim's face firmed.

"Drop me over Shego, I'll be able to get down without you guys stopping!" Her voice was dead serious, and after a brief hesitation, Harry nodded and opened the rear door.

"Five seconds!" he barked.

"Dropping..." Kim announced, and leapt out of the hoverjet, grabbing her backup grapnel from the pouch on her right thigh. She let fly and managed to strike the power line support pole across from Shay perfectly. She began the retract function, making her swing across the tracks before deactivating the grapnel. The line quickly retracted to the gun, and she sailed perfectly, landing barely three meters from the former thief's prone form. Rufus was already there, gently patting Shay's face and trying to wake her, his eyes wide with concern as he looked at Kim. He and Kim both flinched a moment later when the buzzsaw roar of the main gun washed over them.

Kim only payed attention with a small part of her mind, the rest concentrated on the woman lying in front of her, "C'mon, Shay, be alrig-..." Her voice died when she saw her friend. The incredible woman she hadn't had a chance to talk to, to work out her feelings for, at least beyond friendship and lust. She felt tears stinging her eyes as she stood rooted in place for several seconds.

Shay's left arm was obviously broken, the upper half pointed out perpendicular to her body, but the entire lower arm was twisted around so the Kimmunicator screen was facing her. The blood leaking from her mouth made it obvious that she had broken ribs, and the sickly pallor of her skin spoke of far greater injuries.

"Wade!" Kim screamed, her voice breaking in fear for Shay, "I need a medscan and relay to the medivac!" She didn't flinch when the hoverjet's main gun ripped off two more fifty round bursts, her attention concentrating on Wade.

"O-on it, Kim!" Wade answered, and a blue and green streaked light shot out from the Kimmunicator. "Oh, man, she's in bad shape... Kim, the medivac's about two kilometers out and coming in fast, but I also need you to scan, in order, Rufus, yourself and the train car!"

"Alright!" Kim answered, already aiming her wrist at Rufus, "What for? And what was that green light?"

The device shot out the ray again, and Wade didn't answer for a few seconds, his face looking distracted. When the scan finished, he didn't say more than, "It's a secondary scan with my main, have to make sure Shego destroyed the nerve agent..."

"Oh..." Kim said as the scan repeated on her, then on the train. "Well?"

"Clean..." Wade sighed, then favored Kim with a serious gaze, "She'll need to have an MRI brainscan, and you too, Kim."

"The MRI doesn't have anything to do with the nerve agent, does it?" Kim asked suspiciously, and Wade shrugged.

She wanted to call him on his seemingly innocent gesture, but he spoke before she could, and she felt herself relax as he explained, "I don't know, Kim, honestly. The new scan noticed something off in your brain's chemical and neuronal balance, same with Shego's, so I'm worried maybe her plasma did something to the agent, or perhaps the vaporized metal the agent was encased in, or even the explosives..." He shrugged, a worried look on his face, and Kim glanced back at Shay briefly.

"Well, okay..." she looked back at him, "I'll get checked out at wherever they take Shay." Kim said simply, and Wade favored her with a smile, "There's the medivac..."

"Kim, you might want to unseal Shego's new suit..." Wade suggested, and raised an eyebrow as Kim blushed.

"Right..." she nodded her understanding: the suit's fabric was incredibly tough, and if she was coughing up blood, the force needed to cut her suit might damage her lungs further.

The medivac personnel were quick and efficient when they arrived, and were at her side within a couple seconds of pulling Shay's suit down to her hips. Wade had passed what knowledge he had of Shay and her unique physiology, including her increased healing and the likely problems it could give them.

They went about setting her arm as quickly as they could while a third ran an IV line into unbroken her arm, while the other two set the arm with a sickening, wet crunch, before placing the set arm in a vacuum cast. The first quickly put an IV bag on a stand that was attached to the backboard, before connecting it to the cannula on the end of the needle in her arm. As he finished the IV, he went about checking the former thief's chest, determining that the broken ribs were on the left side of her body. He quickly put some padding under her right side to lift her good lung above the bad, and strapped her in.

"The hoverjet will take her back, we're going to evac some less seriously wounded from the train Mr. Stoppable was on!" the man that had checked Shay's ribs said, and Kim nodded. She saw a Blackhawk descending over the end of the train Ron was at, as well as two GJ issue Cobra helicopters hovering around. She glanced back to where she had been, and saw another pair of helicopters, one a GJ Cobra and one Eurocopter EC135, and thought she saw a Blackhawk descending as well.

"I'll watch over her, you guys get going!" she ordered, and they nodded their thanks while the hoverjet was climbing and angling towards them. _She wasn't even hurt this bad by the Li'l Diablo tower falling on her!_ Kim yelled in her head, _Why does she have to get hurt like this for doing _good_? And why _now_?_ The seconds ticked by and her vision blurred, a few tears trickling down her cheek as she dropped to her knees beside Shay and grabbed her good hand, careful not to dislodge the IV line. "Shay, don't leave me... Don't leave _us_, please..." she whispered, "I... There's so much I want to tell you, please stay with us..."

A minute later the hoverjet was down, and a blood covered Ron jumped from the rear ramp before it had dropped below six meters. His legs flared blue when he landed, and he barely made a sound, quickly moving to squat across from Kim, "KP, is Shay bad-..."

"Yes, she's really hurt, Ron!" Kim snapped at him before he could speak further, her eyes flashing with anger that he had the gall to ask. To his credit, he didn't flinch, having expected a sharp response from her. Unfortunately, he also knew a tirade was quickly coming; to avoid it, he snapped his hand out and he grasped her free hand gently.

"I know, KP!" Ron tried to keep his tongue in check, knew it was important not to lose control. But he'd gone through too much, _they_ had gone through too much! Against his own wish, his voice rose sharply, biting and harsh, "Snapping at me won't change anything, 'specially now!" Kim's mouth worked at his tone, one he hadn't used since their last real argument back in July. Ron seemed to misinterpret her confusion, and his tone sounded frustrated as well as enraged when he continued, "Dammit, Kim, I just had to _kill_ again! Two men were about to jump on my section of the train with bombs on their chest! _Bombs_, KP!"

"I..." Kim began, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes, eyes that were suddenly beginning to focus her worry on him, but her own temper had been kickstarted, and she snapped back at him, "I'm sorry, Ron, that I'm worried about our friend who's _dying_ if you didn't notice!" She knew she sounded childishly selfish, but her pain... The fearful, heart piercing agony over what had happened in the prior hour was too much to hold in. The tears flowing hotly down her face were testament to the source of her anger, her petulance, "I'm sorry; I'm hurting here, Ron! Those people died, and I couldn't help them... And others were _killed_ for trying to hur-... To _kill_ me, and now... Now Shay's dying, Ron! She's _dying_, and we can't do anyth-..."

"I _know_ you're hurting Kim, but _so am I_! _I_ don't wanna see Shay die either, _I_ care for her _too_... " he leaned into her space, but he clenched his teeth in an attempt to curtail the volume of his voice, and his anger. He'd have only succeeded in looking angrier, if not for the tears trailing through the dust and grime that was on his cheeks, "But I'm _not_ in a good place right now! God _dammit_, KP, did you _hear me_? I _killed_ again! I promised you I'd try and never do it again, bu-..."

"I never asked you for that promise!" Kim half broke down, her voice breaking as she screamed at him, "You had to! I'm _sorry_, Ron, _okay_?" Kim closed her eyes and scrubbed at her tear stained eyes, her voice sounding weak and lost, "I'm... I'm sorry, I..." She took a shuddering breath, then whispered, "Wh-what were you asking?"

Ron tried to keep his voice from snapping at her when he answered, and somehow, he succeeded, "I was trying to ask if she's bad enough we need to call her brothers!"

"I..." Kim's voice was hollow as she took the implication of his words in, and glanced down at Shay, "Yeah... Yeah, probably..." Neither teen noticed the hoverjet making its final adjustments to land, its vector thrust nozzles pointed down but inactive as when it had landed at the hotel.

"Okay." Ron took a breath, then another, and reached out to lift her face. He tried to put the most soothing, loving tones in his voice he could manage when he spoke, "Let's get her on the hoverjet and call Go Tower, then Wade to arrange a ride if they need to be here..."

"Right..." Kim began again, then something occurred to her, and she shook her head, grasping Ron's shoulder, "No, don't call the tower... Call Jesse and James, we'll go from there..."

"Okay..." Ron agreed, shaking his head at his moment of obliviousness, "You're right, after the way Hego treated you last month..."

"Hey!" Rufus squeaked loudly, jumping and pointing behind them, and they both jumped. Ron and Kim both glanced back to see the rear ramp of the hoverjet just touching the ground behind them. Both Harry and Samson standing at the rear, and seemed ready to dash down the ramp if they were needed.

"We're on our way!" Ron called out, glancing at Rufus, "Thanks, buddy!" Rufus nodded, favoring them both with a dark glare, and both teens gave him apologetic glances before looking at each other. Sighing, Ron nodded at Kim, "On three?"

"Yeah." Kim agreed, they counted and lifted, and they carried Shay's broken form into the hoverjet. After securing her, she and Ron went forward and had Wade set up the call with Shay's youngest brothers.

"Hey, Kim!" the brothers answered in stereo on their Go-Phones, devices similar enough to the Kimmunicator to have video call capability. Their faces had happy expressions for all of a half second before they noticed her expression and the tension in her frame, "What's wrong?" they asked, again as one.

"I... We got called on a mission..." Kim swallowed against the heaviness in her throat, "Jesse, James..." each one nodded in turn with their real names, Jesse being on the left side of the screen, "Your sister was with us, she's... She got hur-..."

Kim stopped as more tears began to fall, and Ron took over when he saw their faces beginning to panic, "She's alive, but she's hurt, real bad. Lots of blood loss, and we don't really know much about, well..." He shrugged, and the twins looked at each other with worried looks.

"How much blood-..." James started, "Did she lose, and what else-..." Jesse continued, before James finished, "Happened to her?"

"Let me che-..." Ron started, but Wade was already funneling the info their way, "Wade has it."

Despite the situation, everyone, even Kim, chuckled a bit, if tightly. After a few moments, the twins shared a look and nodded, "Okay, Shego," Jesse started, James picking up for him, "Has better healing... Than any of us except Greg... And she matches him." They stared at the information for another moment, James continuing his last thought and Jesse picking up after him, "The ribs should be fine... 'Til you reach a hospital... As long as they're not too deep in her lungs... But they'll have to do surgery... To set them and make sure... They _don't_ use screws! Double check the set of the arm... And make sure they have O-Positive or O-Negative whole blood..."

"Why whole?" Kim asked, "Does she reject plasma?"

"Violent..." Jessie said grimly, James continuing, "Negative reaction... Almost like an allergy... All of us... Need whole blood..." They shook their heads, grimacing somewhat, and Jesse picked up their odd speech pattern, "Thanks for calling us... Jody's wife Sandy's in labor... And you know how Greggy's been..."

"Unfortunately..." Kim sighed, "Anything else you can tell us?"

"Watch over her and keep in touch..." Jesse started, "We worry about her... And with this..." They shrugged and shared worried looks, James continuing first, "Tell her we're worried... And that we're pulling for her... And that Sandy's having twin girls!" The twins gave each other a look and a fist bump, before James began the conclusion to their comments, "She thinks Sandy's good for... Jody - that's Mego if you didn't know - so she'll be thrilled..."

"We'll be with her..." Kim assured them, tears again shining in her eyes.

"Promise, guys..." Ron added, and they disconnected. Immediately, Kim buried her face in Ron's chest, and deep, body wracking sobs echoed in the interior of the hoverjet. Ron, despite his overwhelming desire to be strong for Kim, to be her rock as she had for him numerous times previously, broke down as well. He held his sobs down as much as he could, but when Rufus popped up on Kim's shoulder and he tried to give them both a hug, he finally let loose his tears, though he tried to keep his sobs quiet. Even so, the grief of the two teens mingled as they sped towards Frankfurt's premier medical center...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

_Why are they yelling?_ Shego thought in a vaguely concerned manner, _I'm fine..._

She tried to force her eyes open when the arguing stopped, and what she found was startling: the living room of a nice, middle to upper middle class duplex. As she swept her gaze to the left of her seated position on a nice microfibre couch, the place seemed surprisingly familiar. That's when she remembered seeing it before when she'd visited Vivian not long after Harley had come back from Germany. _Wow, they live in Vivi's old place!_

She smiled, remembering how happy Vivian had been when she'd rented it with her allowance from her father, which, considering just who her father was, had been surprisingly small. The same she'd have received working full time as a waitress: just over eight hundred dollars every two weeks. It made sense to her father since she was going to school with more than full time, twenty-two credit hours

The vaulted roof was still the same high, vaulted ceiling, the ceiling proper even with the rafters and deeply stained walnut caps where the rafters would be. The false wall separating the kitchen and living room, the living room open to the dining room, both on the north side of the building. She glanced around, smiling at the fifty inch plus HDTV with an inexpensive, but to her sensitive ear, surprisingly good quality audio system connected to it. What she could see of the dining room, it still had the old table that Vivian had purchased, the same chairs, and even the same Venetian style bamboo blinds.

When her gaze swept to her right, she was startled to see one of her heavier leather jackets on a coat rack. It was between Ron's heavy Smarty-Mart coat and Kim's stylish, but comfortable and warm Club Banana ski jacket. Then she saw pictures climbing the wall along the stairs, starting with Ron and Kim as kids. She couldn't see the ones near the top too well, but she could see herself in a few of them, and she smiled.

"Guys?" she called out, into the silence, standing and walking to the stairs. She knew they were upstairs, in the bedroom. _Our bedroom?_ The thought rocked her, but she shook it off and walked up stairs. She saw pictures, pictures she knew couldn't be, and that slipped out of her mind within a few instants of passing them. But she didn't care, she heard them arguing again! Why?

"Ronnie, Kimmie, what's wrong?" she begged as she opened the door...

She felt herself falling, the dizziness and sensation startling her for an instant, before...

Pain, shocking, intense pain in her arm, her ribs, just below her right chest, her ear... She tried to force her eyes open and managed the slightest crack, and saw Rufus staring open mouthed at Kim and Ron as they yelled at each other. Their voices were quiet, as if at a huge distance, but she could just make out their words...

"...our friend who's _dying_ if you didn't notice!" Kim's voice was petulant, almost childish, but so, so hurt...

Shego wanted to reach out, to lay a comforting hand on hers, but realized she was barely conscious enough to turn her eyes to look at the red-head. She wanted to wipe the tears away from her cheeks, to rain kisses down on her achingly beautiful face. _She is beautiful..._ Shego wanted to smile, but was barely able to muster up the strength to blink, _And I'm only now noticing she's not just hot... _God_, I'm an idiot!_

"I'm sorry; I'm hurting here, Ron!" Kim's voice was less petulant, and more desperate now, and Shego wanted to tell her not to worry... But couldn't. "Those people died, and I couldn't help them... And others were _killed_ for trying to hur-... To _kill_ me, and now... Now Shay's dying, Ron! She's _dying_, and we can't do anyth-..."

_Don't cry about it, Kim..._ Shego tried to say, _It's life, it happens... I'd rather bastards prepared to kill you die than you! And the others that died are..._ Were_ soldiers! They_ know _the risks..._

"I _know_ you're hurting Kim," Ron's voice drew her eyes to him, and she could barely see him from her position. But there he was, tears streaking down his own face, his worry for her and Kim both obvious, "but _so am I_! _I_ don't wanna see Shay die either, _I_ care for her _too_... "

_He cares for me?_ Shego wondered, then wanted to slap her hand over her eyes, _Doy, he's your friend... But... The way he said it..._ She wanted to smile as she realized he had feelings beyond friendship for her, to pat his hand, to ask him to wait... To wait for her to figure out her own feelings, but she couldn't.

Then he leaned forward, trying to control his voice, but she knew he was having trouble. "But I'm _not_ in a good place right now! God _dammit_, KP, did you _hear me_? I _killed_ again! I promised you I'd try and never do it again, bu-..."

_Oh, God, Sport..._ Shego felt a few tears trying to well up in her eyes, but her body was too abused to manage it, _Please... Don't blame yourself... You_ had _to!_

"I never asked you for that promise!" Kim began to half sob into her screams, her voice breaking from the force, and Shego wanted to yell in agreement when Kim continued, unknowingly echoing Shego's plea to the blond teen, "You had to! I'm _sorry_, Ron, _okay_?" Kim closed her eyes and scrubbed at her tear stained eyes, her voice sounding weak and lost, "I'm... I'm sorry, I..." She took a shuddering breath, then whispered, "Wh-what were you asking?"

Darkness shrouded her, and she found herself in a wet, heavy smelling place. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew that she felt less, yet more pain in her left chest. The sharp, jabbing pains that she knew were ribs in her lungs was gone, replaced by the burn of open flesh. _Oh, God..._ she thought, realizing she was waking during surgery!

_At least there's no pain..._ she observed distantly, _Yet, anyway..._ It wasn't the first time it'd happened, and she highly doubted it'd be the last. She tried to make a sound, and found she was, as yet, unable to control her body enough. _I hate this..._ She wanted to chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all, but couldn't. Then she began to hear voices.

"Hurry up with that rib, Givens!" a soft voice called out in German, and Shego felt a vague pressure as her eighth rib was slid forward and then drawn back carefully. She felt a vague, barely noticeable grinding as they made sure the ribs were seated together, and the pulling on her flesh as it tried to regrow back into place.

"This is _amazing_ Dr. Bader!" a feminine voice murmured, also in German, "Her flesh is healing immediately after being cut, and if you look, the bones look to have already had well over a day's growth on them! And it's been, what, an hour and twenty minutes?"

"Approximately, Dr. Givens," another voice commented in somewhat clumsy German, a voice she realized was Will Du's, "Do be advised, you have about another twenty minutes to get the other four ribs or you'll be breaking sections off or ripping out clumps of lung tissue! Her healing is why you can't use any screws, either..."

"Understood, Second Du..." Dr. Bader murmured, "The arm is still well set, what I'm most worried about is the liver..."

"Her brothers said that it should be fine, if it hasn't been liquified..." Shego instantly recognized Ron's voice, and wondered if Kimmie was there, too. She probably was, and the former thief wanted to protest their presence! She didn't want them to see her like this, or for them to think she was weak... So broken, so easily hurt...

_Quit being a moron!_ she half yelled at herself, _He's there to offer advice from your brothers, and if Kimmie's there, too, so the fuck what? If you can't trust_ them_, who_ can _you trust?_

She managed, finally, to push out a slight laugh at her own silly paranoia, the sound coming out as a pathetic wheeze that still brought across the amused emotion behind it. "She's waking up!" the anesthetist said urgently, and she heard a hiss. Within seconds, she felt the lethargic feeling in her brain of the anesthesia, and managed to quirk her mouth into a weak smirk.

"Wow..." Ron murmured, and Shego wondered what he was exclaiming about, "Man, she's tough..."

"Obviously..." Dr. Nagel said with a mild chuckle, pausing her thought to say, "Eighth rib in place, Initiating fifth cut..."

"Ah know she's tough, Ron..." Will said in a slightly confused tone, "But how d'ya figur' jus' from this?"

"She was just laughing at her chest being opened up like it is! I don't even think Pain King could take this kinda hurt!" Ron half exclaimed, earning a chuckle from Dr. Mandel, Will and what Shego had to presume was a nurse. She managed to wheeze out another chuckle, wondering how Ron would react to knowing she only felt pressure and tugging.

She was floating again, and then falling, only to end up floating yet again...

This time, however, she was on a rubber inner tube. Well, in all honesty, it was shaped like an inner tube, but was actually made from the same material as inflatable boats. Of course, that was almost beside the point, since Vivian had told her all about it. _Vivi could be_ such _a nerd when she wants to be!_

The Go Rapids Waterpark was one of the the biggest water parks in the United States. This was one of two 'river' style rides, in addition to the eight water slides and four 'super plunge' slides. There was a small wave pool, and a section with an honest to God Olympic pool, as well as a few heated whirlpools and wading pools.

"Head's up!" Harley chuckled, and kicked her inner tube, making it bounce against the next section of the slide and over the lip just enough to send her sliding down... And out of her tube!

"Jerk!" she called back up, then was spluttering and hacking as she hit the three foot deep section some thirty feet below. She spat out the chlorinated water and jumped back into her tube, glancing back up with a dark glare at her boyfriend, only to laugh as she saw Vivi slapping the back of his head with her palm.

"Sorry, baby!" he called down, and while trying to fend off Vivi's slaps he slipped over the edge backwards, letting out a decidedly unmanly squeal of shock. "Oh, sure!" he protested as Shego kicked her feet and slapped her inner tube in delight, "Laugh at me when I sound like a five year old at the carnival again!"

"Serves you right, jerk!" Shego stuck her tongue out, splashing him when he opened his mouth to make a comment.

"Ugh, the things I put up with for love..." he muttered, and Shego stopped, blushing brightly as he half kicked, half paddled himself over to her.

"Love you, Harley..." Shego whispered, her blush deepening as Vivi splashed into the slow section behind them.

"Love you too, baby..." he cooed at her, winking before leaning in to plant a soft kiss on her lips. They both closed their eyes, and she shivered as his lips touched hers: they were still so soft, so gentle, like kissing Vivi... And _so_ unlike kissing Kimmie... Shego opened her eyes with a start as he pulled away and stared at him, his cute, freckled face, big ears, and blond cowlick strangely tamed by the wat-... She closed her eyes and shook her head, wondering what the hell was going on, and breathed a sigh of relief when she opened her eyes to see her handsome, if goofy boyfriend. _It's_ Harley _that was here at the water park!_ she scolded herself, _Not Ron! And I hadn't kissed Vivi when we all went to the water park!_

Vivi leaned over to whisper quietly in her ear, "But that wouldn't be too bad, right?" When Shego stared at her askance, she tittered, and Harley joined in. "If it was really Ron, I mean?"

"Yeah," Harley's oh-so-familiar voice cooed again, sounding older, slightly rougher from yelling, but loving and... Forgiving... She didn't want to look, but forced herself to, and there he was. His hair was close cropped in a perfect, Army regulation high 'n' tight, his handsome, tension lined face showing a few scars from action he'd seen, but his deep brown eyes still soft... Still shining with love, and oddly, hope, "I mean, he's not a bad lookin' dude, and you _know_ he cares for you as much as that hot red-head you're in love with!"

"Wha-..." Shego began, but was falling again...

She fell for what felt like hours, if not days, before she landed again. This time, it was gentle, and there was a comforting warmth on her face. The brightness of the light filtering through her eyelids told her it was likely early afternoon.

Unfortunately, she found that, once again, she couldn't speak, but could hear. _Oh, don't tell me they're prepping me for more surgery!_ Her protesting thought was answered when she heard the soft, but relaxed murmur of Ron and Kim's voices. _Okay, they'd probably be freaking if I was going in for_ more _surgery..._ She couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but she knew the conversation was a good one. Kim's voice sounded... Stronger, more like her old voice, her old _self_. And Ron's was... Not tired, but slightly weary, as if he was finally coming to grips with something heavy, something that weighed not just his heart, but his soul down. _He killed again..._

She wanted to reach out to them, to let them know _she_ was alright, that _whatever happened_ was alright in the end... To assure _herself_ that they were alright... But then, she remembered the surgery... One thing she hated about her mind, of the seven times she'd been put under for surgery, she'd woken up halfway through and remembered everything clearly. And the damage she'd received in that explosion was worse by at least triple than what she'd received at the Bueno Nacho world headquarters...

Then two more voices invaded her perceptions. JJ and TJ! They had leave? Awesome, she could spend some time with them! She could hear TJ setting something next to her, and she knew it was him by the way he still walked, the almost unnoticeable limp from the wound he'd received in the action down in Mexico.

Then Rufus showed up, and there was chattering and laughing, and Kimmie-... Wait... Kimmie has something to say to me? Something that sounds important...

And then there's JJ, teasing Kimmie the way she liked to, but the heroine beat her at the game. And now Ron's joining in, and his fiancée slapped him several times, probably on the chest and shoulders. But Ron was right, her little Princess would have blushed if she'd have been the one saying it! She could picture her Princess blushing, and felt a swelling of pressure in her chest, and didn't bother stopping the thought form bouncing around her head, _Okay... It's official, I love her... I'm in love with Kim Possible!_

She let the thought, and the image of Kim blushing in that oh-so-cute manner she did, float around in her head, and delighted in the feeling of admitting it, of _knowing_ it was true! She wanted to giggle, to crow about it at the top of her lungs, and, startlingly, managed to push out a soft chuckle. When her friends didn't react, she decided to keep resting for a little bit, smiling as she listened to her friends laugh, talk and tease each other some more...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"So," Ron said with a soft sigh, glancing out of the window. He was seated looking out of the polarized glass over five stories up in what seemed to the outside world to be just a small office building. In truth, it was just one of the sections of GJ's Frankfurt facility. Specifically, the intensive care unit, "I'm doin' better today..." He let out a light, slightly self effacing laugh, looking down at the head of red hair nestled next to his neck, "In fact, I think I'm doin' better than I was two weeks after the Lorwardians!"

"Good..." Kim sighed into the crook of his neck, shifting slightly to make herself more comfortable in her fiancé's lap. _At least the chairs here are comfy..._ She sighed at the thought, then glanced from the beautiful fall day to the bed in room. "I'm doin' a lot better too..."

"KP..." Ron followed her haze, giving her a tighter hug, "Wasn't any of our faults, right?" Kim nodded slightly and he let out a light sigh, "Sheegs'll be up and about any time now! And you can tell her ho-..."

"I..." Kim interrupted him unintentionally. She gave him an apologetic look, then swallowed before continuing, "I will... I talked about it, how I feel, to Dr. Kopffall... After JJ calmed me down Saturday night... Right after the MRI and after Wade explained a few things to me, in fact!" Ron gave her another brief hug and she laughed slightly when he poked her gently just below the ribs, "Anyway, she said that... That what I'm feeling is natural, and had nothing to do with... With everything else." She took a deep breath and then let it out, admitting almost shamefacedly, "I also talked to her about some of the things I said to you... Some of what we saw... What you did... Our argument when we were waiting for the hoverjet to land..."

"You _have_ talked to her quite a few times since, KP..." Ron murmured softly, kissing the side of her head, "So, um... Why _did_ you blow up like that?" His question was gentle, and he added, "I mean, you were almost _panicking_, and you didn't even freak out like that when Dr. L. kidnapped your _dad_!"

"I, um..." Kim blushed slightly and pulled her head back up to gaze at him, "Ronnie... Ron... I think I..." She blinked and dipped her head, gazing at him through her bangs, "Well, after all this, I... This is gonna sound so _ferociously_ weird, considering how it's only been a week, but... I'm pretty much sure I'm kinda-sorta in love with her?"

"Kinda-sorta?" Ron raised an eyebrow at her questioning tone, his face remaining neutrally supportive, but his tone teasing.

"Um..." Kim flushed a deep scarlet, and laid her head back on his chest, snuggling up under his chin, "Okay, not so kinda-sorta..." Her tone spoke volumes of the worry she was feeling at admitting it to Ron, but the slight shaking from him, and the barely repressed laughter emanating from his mouth spoke volumes. Kim pulled back despite her blush and favored him with a moue, and he let out a light, pleased sounding chuckle.

"You're in love with Shay?" he murmured, earning a somewhat annoyed nod from his fiancée. He smiled at her and leaned forward to kiss her pouting mouth, "I'm glad to hear that you're not afraid to admit it, KP." Her pout dropped, but there was concern in his eyes despite his smile, "But the question is: _are_ you doin' better?"

"No bi-..." Kim stopped and took a breath, stepping back a bit in her mind to go over her still somewhat confused feelings. She knew some of her feelings of worry, of fear, were gone... A product of Wade, Drew, her mom and Dr. Ima Kapffall's intensive studies of her brainscan that Wade had surreptitiously taken, and the more in depth scan taken by the MRI technicians at the medical center. They'd managed to get a device - designed to fix the physical problems her father had suffered that were almost identical to hers - sent to her the day after the mission. They'd cashed in a favor, but she didn't care; it'd helped both her and her father, enough that they'd spent hours talking on Monday.

She'd still been angry over some of the things her father had said to her and Ron, but... But it hadn't been like it was before. Still, even knowing what the source of so many of her problems, however, they were still unfortunately clueless as to _how_ it had been done. And that was a new wrinkle, a new worry, that they would have to discuss and hash out. But it'd be later, but now? Now she had healing to do; not just for her, nor Ron, but for Shay as well.

Nonetheless, she was, all in all, back to about ninety percent of her old self. At least, according to everyone she'd spoken to that had known her long enough.

She was about to speak again, when a soft cough from Ron drew her attention, as he gently prodded her, "KP?"

She leaned in and gently kissed him on the lips, smiling softly as she reached up to caress his face, "I'm a lot better, Ronnie..." She kissed him again, a bit deeper and pulled back once again, seeing his normally goofy smile almost back to full strength. "I... I'm still... Just kinda worried, in general, but I'm not _anxious_ about everything anymore... And..." She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, "I'm not _okay_ with what happened, but... I understand... And I _still_ don't blame you."

"I..." Ron started, then swallowed against the knot in his throat, "Thanks, KP... That means _so_ much right now..."

"This just a three person party, or can more join in?" The burry, oddly musical soprano from the doorway startled them both enough to jump.

Kim allowed a big smile, an honest, open one at that, to grace her features, "Hey, JJ!" She stood up and held a hand out to the older woman, who used the hand to pull the teen into a hug.

"Hey, Kim, Ron," she said as she let go of the hug and leaned down to give Ron a one armed hug of his own, "We got our leave as soon as we could... And Harry said to say he'll be by sometime today." the dark skinned woman chuckled as she stood from hugging Ron, gazing back and forth between them.

"Well, I'm just glad you were here when KP woke up..." Ron said with a soft chuckle, hugging Kim to him. Kim returned the hug with one arm and favored JJ with a thankful gaze.

"Well, it's good to see some real smiles on your faces after you got dropped into the shit last Saturday." JJ nodded firmly.

"We're still healing..." Ron admitted with surprising ease, "But we've had some damn good help over the last five days..." Kim glanced down at him and raised an eyebrow at his language, and he shrugged, "Hey, it's the best way to describe it, right?"

"Yup..." the deep, velvet soft baritone belonging TJ murmured, "An' some distractions, Ah'm cert'n..." He smiled and winked at the teens, before carrying the bouquet of chocolate flowers over to Shego's bedside table, glancing down at her, "She's still out a'sorts, huh?"

"Well..." Kim hesitated for a moment, grimacing slightly before settling back down on Ron's lap, "It was kind of a suggestion from her brothers, minus the big blue jerk..."

"Oh, my God!" JJ chuckled, shaking her head, "That's just how Shay always said that; just replace 'jerk' with 'ass'..."

"KP came up with that all her own after the last time we worked with him... And back then, she _did_ use 'ass'!" Ron chuckled as Kim stuck her tongue out at him, then continued Kim's comment, "But KP's right, her brothers suggested, with all the broken bones, muscle, skin an' liver damage, that they put her into a medicinally inducted coma pumped full of stuff for muscles and bones and stuff."

"Medically induced, Ron..." Kim rolled her eyes and swatted Ron lightly on the shoulder.

"When's she s'posed t'wake up?" TJ asked before Ron could respond or even pout, and Kim shrugged.

"I wasn't here..." she murmured while looking at Ron.

"Earlier today they cut the anta... Aneit... An-eh-sthe-tic!" Ron reached up and slapped a hand over his eyes, "I had _no_ problems with that earlier..." he muttered, "But, anyway, she should wake up sometime this afternoon..." He was about to say more when a startled voice from the bathroom door drew everyone's attention.

It was Rufus, and he was dashing across the floor to give JJ and TJ a welcome. TJ, who had become rather fond of the little mole rat, squatted and held a hand out to scoop Rufus up. "Hey there, li'l guy..." TJ said as Rufus ran along his arm to give his thick neck a hug, before jumping off to hug JJ's neck as well.

"I think he's happy to see us!" JJ chimed in, tittering slightly.

"Well..." Kim blushed slightly, "You _did_ kind of keep me together when I woke up and Ron wasn't around but was watching over Shay while she was in surgery..."

"Sorry 'bout that, Kim..." Ron flushed slightly.

"Don't be!" Kim admonished him, swatting his chest to emphasize her point, "You were doing something you _had_ to do... Something I'd have wanted you to do..."

"That's where you were?" JJ asked curiously, and Ron nodded, "But what about later, when Kim here'd fallen back to sleep?"

Ron's mouth opened and closed a few times, before he snapped it closed with a shrug. "I can't say much about it?" he hedged, and seeing the doubtful gaze in TJ's eyes, he sighed, "I really can't talk too much about it. It involves my MMP, and I was in meditation to help me deal with some of the stuff that happened that day..."

"So top secret kinda stuff?" JJ asked, elbowing the huge sergeant in the gut, earning a loud whuff of breath from him, "I think we understand..."

"Yeah..." TJ grunted, giving JJ a brief stink eye, before smiling and carefully taking a seat in one of the free chairs in the room, "So yoah back in yoah rahght minds, it seems?"

"Yup!" Kim smiled at the big man, "In fact, I'm waiting for Shay to wake up, I kind of have something to say to her..."

"Oh?" JJ drew the word out, a devilish smile on her face, "And what, precisely, is that?"

"It's important, but if you wanna know that bad, you'll just have to stick around and find out!" Kim stuck her tongue out at JJ and blew her a raspberry.

"Be careful making promises, Kim..." JJ started, and Kim, having half expected it, jumped in to finish for her.

"'Cause you never know who'll take you up on the offer?" JJ, mouth opened to finish, snapped it shut as Kim said the words without any hint of a blush.

"Well, seems _someone's_ used t'some teasin'!" TJ chuckled, elbowing the embarrassed looking JJ in the arm.

"What can I say?" Kim made a show of blowing on her fingernails and burnishing them on her shirt. Ron, TJ and Rufus all chuckled at the display, the latter laughing hard enough to fall from JJ's shoulder to the black woman's lap, "I learned to deal with it since our two best friends back home are lesbians, and one of 'em likes to tease me mercilessly!"

"Yeah," Ron said when he finally calmed his laughing down enough, "but I bet if _Shay_ would've said it, you'd've been blushing brighter than your hair, KP!"

Kim gasped in shock, and then slapped him lightly on the chest several times, saying in a strangled tone, "You hush, Ronald Stoppable!" The laughter echoed in the room, drowning out a soft, half aware chuckle from the bed...

**Author's Notes**

All I have to say about Shego's injuries... _Ouch_, she is one tough woman! As to the rest of the chapter, action, revelation, fear, outright panic and a conclusion of sorts for some problems that've been plaguing our favorite red-headed heroine! There's obviously some unresolved tensions, there, but now, hopefully, the healing can start...

And then there's the beginning... Wait, what? That... Will be resolved in the next book of Vacation from the Norm, tentatively entitled: "Vacation from the Norm, Book II: Journey of Discovery"

As always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work. As well, remember everyone, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember: if ya like a fic, give the author a review!

Catch everyone in the epilogue, and following that, in Book II!


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Forward**

**First off, a very, **_**very**_** important note to all my readers:** the latter portion of this chapter will at least skirt the bleeding edge of the "M" rating... It may seem odd, but there are very important bits of character development in the this section, and they are necessary to be presented in the manner they are for the sake of the story's continuance. If anyone reading this finds the chapter is not "M", but purely "MA", I ask that you send me a PM, and if it's possible to change it without changing the entire feel of the chapter, I shall endeavor to do so, or I will be forced to take the chapter down or edit out the latter half and post the unedited version elsewhere.

That said... We have an epilogue! And I'll be the first to admit, it's kind of a beast, but... It's a way of saying "Thanks!" to all my readers and reviewers for enjoying my fic as much as they have. I honestly, sincerely hope you've enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed writing it! This chapter was has been written almost completely for almost two weeks, but I've been prodding and tweaking for most of that time, which is the primary reason it took so long to get out.

The good new is that second book of this work is being written, and I do hope you enjoy it as much, if not more, than this one! And speaking of reviewers... On to review replies!

Pesterfield: as always, thanks for the post mortem beta-ish review, and, again as always, I hope the fic continues to live up to expectations. Hope you like the epilogue and hope to see you in the sequel!

Jimmy1201: Well, first, with Betts/Gemini, you missed a few things in earlier chapters. I like the effort I put into Rufus, too, I love the li'l guy! The 'brain thing' will be explained, at least in part, in Chapter 1 of Book II, and no, it wasn't an adventure, per se... Glad to hear you're lookin' forward to Book II, I hope it'll be as fun a ride as this was, if not more so!

And now... The epilogue!

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Shego had been listening to her five friends for at least an hour, and was pleased with some of what she'd heard, although some of her findings were bothersome, at the very least. One of the nurses had came in to check her vitals and noted she seemed to be on the path to waking up, but was sleeping based on the pulse and breathing rate. She'd also confirmed a few things JJ and TJ had asked Kim and Ron, which was a huge relief for the former thief. _Man, I_ was _messed up after this job, wasn't I?_ Something about the wording struck her as off, and she knew immediately that a large part of it was some of Princess' lingo slowly slipping into her own vocabulary. At the same time, calling it a 'mission' wasn't exactly incorrect when she viewed it in relation to her injuries.

Seven broken ribs, five of which had punctured her lung, a traumatic, complete, closed fracture of the left humerus, severe concussion, ruptured left eardrum, her liver split into three pieces, bruising of most of the bones in her torso, left arm and leg, a detached retina that they discovered with an MRI scan - that had thankfully healed all on its own - and a collection various small cuts, scrapes and bruises that happened during and directly after the explosion. There was also the cuts to access and remove the ribs from her lung and gluing of her left chest, which she knew about thanks to waking up mid-surgery. Nonetheless, she was shocked. When a goddamn electrical tower fell on her, she hadn't suffered that many, or that severity, of injuries! That a few kilos of plastic explosives could do that was shocking, to say the least.

Of course, she was thankful to hear that Kim and Ron had called her youngest brothers for advice. They were reasonably level headed - sometimes anyway - and had given them solid advice, which the hospital had believed and followed. _And it sounds like I'm pretty much healed, just have to wait through an one or two nights of observation when I'm conscious._ And, from what the nurse had told JJ, her spotter and the other men wounded at the warehouse and when the OWFL goons had tried to storm Ron's section of the train would all survive to fight another day.

After the nurse left, her friends had resumed their prior discussion, an animated one about their first experiences with Global Justice's worldwide Second Agent Basil William Du, and how he'd improved over the prior three months. Kim seemed to get quite a kick out of Will's actual first name, and Ron seemed to think it was a great name. Shego barely restrained herself from laughing at TJ's reaction, although JJ seemed to agree with Ron, on both philosophical grounds - that of never being normal - and on personal grounds.

"Ah think yoah both nuts." TJ chuckled, winking at Kim, "But Ah'll agree that it's not th' worst name in th' world!"

"Yeah..." Shego finally opened her eyes and spoke up, the pressure of remaining silent with the current topic of discussion too much. With a grin threatening the corners of her mouth, she continued, "He could've gotten a name like Shannon or Alice or Jody..."

"Shay!" Kim cried, seeming to appear by her bedside within the instant it took for Shego blink. The pale woman had taken in just enough breath to greet the red-head when two arms were around her neck, as if to assure the red-head she was really there and awake. Shego considered, briefly, making a mock show of wheezing at the tight squeeze, but just couldn't do that with Kim's reaction.

There were other greetings, from Ron, Rufus, TJ and JJ, but Shego's full attention was on Kim, and the tears she felt spilling from the red-head's eyes and falling onto her cheek. She knew she was watery eyed as well, but didn't care one whit; she was far too thrilled that the girl she loved was showing how much she cared for her! Nonetheless, she couldn't help but smiling and chuckling out, "Hey, I told you I'd see you in a few..."

This finally stopped Kim's heartfelt, if incoherent, babbling and she pulled back to regard Shego at arm's length, resting her hands on the older woman's shoulders. Shego began a smug smirk, but it died stillborn when she saw the serious gaze Kim was giving her, "I thought you meant a few minutes, maybe hours if we had to go through debriefing..." Kim half choked out, tears flowing more freely down her face, "Not a few days!"

"What can I say?" Shego shrugged, trying to maintain her bravado, before glancing at the others in the room, "Hey, guys, good to see yo-..."

"Shay..." Kim's voice cut the greeting off, and her tone cut any response from their friends off as well. Shego turned back, and saw Kim biting her lip, her head dropped forward enough that Kim's hair had half fallen into her face. The sight was demure, almost frightened, but there was a worried determination in those green eyes, "I..." Kim floundered slightly as she looked into Shego's eyes, and the pale woman almost mimicked the quick swallow Kim performed.

"What is it..." Shego almost used her favorite nickname, but something about the seriousness of the moment made her rethink it. Instead, she cocked her head slightly and regarded Kim with a worried half pout, "What's wrong, Kim?"

"I've... Ron and I both have been here so much the last few days... Worrying about you..." Kim stopped and closed her eyes, taking a breath and breathing it out before opening them again and favoring her with a serious, worried and somewhat scared gaze, "I know, being a hero, or just doing the job you're being paid to do is dangerous, but... If you can... _Please_, don't worry us like that again!"

"Well, if she's with you guys," JJ murmured, an interested but subdued look on her face, "And doin' things with you or doin' her for job, that's kind of a tall order..."

"What JJ said..." Shego said with an expression that mingled amusement, confusion and a bit of her own worry in one. She stopped with her mouth opening and closing as she realized that Kim's tears had, if anything, increased in volume and she'd leaned in closer.

"I know..." Kim's voice was barely above a whisper, but carried easily throughout the room, "I know..." She stopped and took another breath, as if steeling herself for something. When she spoke, it was with a firm, sure tone and she opened her eyes, staring deep into Shego's own, "I know it's only been a week, Shay... But we've known each other for a few years, and granted, we've been enemies for most of that... I liked how you were when you were Miss Go, even though I hated myself for wanting you to stay like that... And I know what I said on my Junior Prom night..." She flinched sligtly, as if thinking about it was painful, before pushing on, "But... But I realized, the day we got called on the mission... I love you _too much_ to lose you, Shay..." She finished in a whisper, her voice pained and scared, but hopeful at the same time, "I love you..."

"You..." Shego breathed in shock, blinking against the blurriness of her own vision as tears tracked down Kim's beautiful face, "_You_ love _me_, too? I mean... I..." Shego blinked, a single tear leaking from her eyes and crawling down the curve of her cheek, wondering if, _hoping_ that, Kim would lean in and kiss her, to save her from embarrassing herself. Even so, she wore a surprised, soft smile as Kim reached up to wipe away that single tear, and realized the younger woman was waiting on her. It was Shego's turn to swallow against a lump in her throat, and when she had, she sighed out, "I... I love you too, Princess..."

The kiss that Shego had been hoping for was soft, Kim's firm lips pressing against hers feeling more like a warm, comforting, even protective embrace. There was a mingled gasp from TJ and JJ, but the moment was all but shattered as Ron and Rufus shared a quiet, but sharp, "Booyah!"

Kim and Shego separated by mutual, unspoken consent, flushing with a mix of happiness and embarrassment from Ron and Rufus' reactions. They turned to try and give them dirty looks, but the smiles on their faces wouldn't be denied. Nonetheless, the blond's fiancée turned to face him and sat on the edge of the security consultant's bed as if she were planning on staying there all day long, "Ron, we're having a moment here!"

"I'll say, darlin'!" TJ chuckled, earning a sharp elbow in the gut from JJ, "Oof, hey, now, Ah'm bein' serious, heah!"

"I'm sure, TJ!" Shego quipped, sticking her tongue out, "You and that whole southern gentleman bit don't fool _me_!" Ron, Rufus and JJ laughed, Kim smirked, and TJ looked wounded, raising a questioning eyebrow at the former thief, "Oh, come off it, you've _always_ loved watching two hot women kiss!"

"Ah'm a red blooded Amer'can man, Shay..." TJ drawled with a chuckle, "Of course Ah'm gonna enjoy it!"

"Well!" JJ said while clapping her hands together gently, "Um... I guess you _did_ have something important to tell my bud, didn't ya, Kim?"

"Yup." Kim all but preened, a big, happy smile on her face.

"So, KP..." Kim's smile froze on her face somewhat at Ron's surprisingly serious tone, and Shego turned to give him a curious, raised eyebrow stare. He seemed to ignore the mingled confusion - and near annoyance on Rufus' part - on everyone else's face, his concentration on his fiancée, "When were you plannin' on telling me you were in love with Shay?"

"Umm..." Kim hedged for a moment, glancing at Shego, who now wore an expression of mirth at Ron's question and Kim's almost worried look, "I kinda planned to tell you when I told Shay?"

Ron's serious look seemed to melt at Kim's questioning answer, his normal goofy smile dwarfed by the grin he wore when he replied with a relieved, "Oh, okay!" He made a show of wiping his brow and flinging away sweat, "I was starting to worry there for a minute!"

"Ronald Stoppable!" Kim groused, standing up and pouting at him as she stalked forward, "That was absolutely _mean_!"

She stopped in front of him with her hands on her hips and leaned down with her face directly in front of his, and he just kept smiling as he looked at her, "Yup, but y'know what, KP?"

"What?" she queried, her pout intensifying a bit.

"It got you close enough for this..." With that, he leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, chuckling lightly when he pulled back, "I love you, Kim Possible, and thank you for being honest and not hiding it from me."

"Oh..." Kim flushed a deep crimson, standing and glancing back at Shego, who was chuckling at the whole situation. She smiled bashfully and hid her face behind her hair as she sat back down on Ron's lap, giggling a bit as he hugged her close and looking around as if she'd forgotten there was an audience. "You're welcome, Potential Boy..." she half whispered after a moment, leaning back against him and gazing at Shego with the same kind of gaze she would normally reserve for Ron.

"Well..." JJ blinked several times, shaking her head and still looking shell shocked, "I wasn't expecting _that_ when Kim mentioned she needed to talk to you, Shay..."

"Neither was I..." Shego quipped, smiling at her friend. Then the smile congealed as Kim raised a questioning eyebrow, "What? I was just enjoying the conversation!"

"Without saying you were awake..." Kim grunted, annoyed, and seemed about to add more, but a nurse interrupted them.

"Oh, you're avake!" The woman spoke with an almost girlish pitch, yet her accent and the seriousness of her tone of voice belied her voice's apparent innocence. She had a button nosed cuteness to her, and while short, she couldn't be called petite with her wide hips and strong looking frame, "Let me ket Dr. Givens, he vill vant to chack your progress..."

"And I guess that's everyone's que to take off?" Shego asked, obviously disappointed.

"I vill giff you a vew moments vith your friends, ma'am..." the nurse smiled, nodding at them.

"Ah, JJ 'n' Ah're plannin' on hittin' the 'Fest, Darlin'..." TJ said to Shego as the nurse left the room, "An' Ah'm sure yoah wantin' t' spend th' next few minutes talkin' t'yoah girlfriend an' her fiancé..."

"Yeah..." Shego nodded, favoring her friends with a nod and a smile, "If I'm let out tonight, we'll get together for a few drinks, right?"

"As you'd say, 'Doy!'..." JJ chuckled, then grimaced slightly, "Er, if you still say that, girl..."

"Oh, she does!" Kim chirped happily, winking at the older woman and giving her a big smile, "Give me your number and I'll let you guys know what's going on."

"Okay." JJ agreed, and the two women shared numbers.

"She tells me she loves me, and she's already getting other women's numbers!" Shego groused playfully, winking at her old friend and Kim, and earning a chuckle from the three men in the room.

"Oh, yes," Kim rolled her eyes playfully, "Because I _just_ declared loving you to get with your old friends!"

Everyone laughed before TJ and JJ left, leaving a somewhat nervous Kim and Shego, and a relaxed, obviously happy Ron and Rufus in the room. After a moment, Shego gave her girlfriend - she knew it would take a while to get used to that - a serious look and asked, "Are you sure you want this, Kimmie?"

Kim returned her serious look and grabbed Ron's hand, standing and pulling him with her to stand beside Shego's bed. She reached out to gently grasp one of the older woman's hands, who grasped hers in return and smiled, "As sure as I was when I said 'Yes!' to Ron..."

Shego searched her face, and looked deep in her eyes, relaxing slightly when she saw the truth there. Closing her eyes and giving Kim's hand a squeeze, she schooled her nerves into a relaxed state and murmured, "If you're sure, so am I." She opened her eyes and looked between her two friends, one of whom was the woman she was in love with, and gave them a crooked half smile, "I mean that, Kimmie... I love you. I don't know for how long, exactly, but... Like you said, it may have only been a week, but... I think, what you meant with my mind-fucked self, that you could like her, but not... More than that?"

Kim nodded, a gesture shared by Shego, "Then... I promise, I'll _try_ not to get hurt like this again. If you two..." She saw Rufus give her a slightly narrowed eye stare, and chuckled, "Three, sorry, promise the same thing."

"Of course!" the three of them responded, then chuckled, Kim continuing, "Of course, Shego... I wouldn't ask that without offering the same thing."

"Yeah!" Ron and Rufus cheered enthusiastically, Ron reaching out to cover Kim's hand, and Rufus scampering down to put his little paw on his human's hand.

"Thanks, guys..." Shego sighed, "Hey, Ronnie?" When the blond grunted, she took that as having his attention and continued, "I... I'm not sure what I feel for you, beyond, well... You're cool, you're a friend... You're as good a kisser as Kimmie..."

Kim blushed and glanced at the grinning Ron with a slightly embarrassed air, before smiling and muttering, "Well, from what Will said, you _had_ to have luck like Ron's, with the explosives in that car!"

"Glad it worked..." Shego snickered, but schooled her face into seriousness, "But, I... I promise, Ron, I'm trying to work through all the confusion I feel about you. I don't know if I can feel for you what I do for Kimmie, but..."

"Don't worry, Shay..." Ron squeezed both hands under his gently, to emphasize his point, "Like Sensei said when I asked him if he knew of a good time to ask Kim to marry me, 'If you try and stop the rain from falling, you'll only get wet.'" Ron's face seemed puzzled, but then brightened, as if an answer had finally struck him, "I think what he meant, is not to force anything, to just let it happen and do what it will, and you'll be better off." Ron nodded in satisfaction, and his smile was soft and caring, "Like I said with KP, well, with a little addition: just don't hide it from me, from yourself, or from Kim, and neither will I. I promise, 'kay?"

"I will, and I promise..." Shego intoned solemnly, then glanced at the door, "And I see Dr. Givens coming."

"We'll wait in the cafeteria, let us know what the word is, 'kay?"

"'Kay, Princess..." she gave one last squeeze and drew Kim in for a quick, chaste kiss, "I'll talk to you guys later... Love you, Kimberly Possible."

"Love you too," Kim said with a big smile, "Shay Gottlieb..."

"See ya in a bit!" Ron chuckled, giving Shego's hand a pat and squeeze when Kim finally let go, before winking at her and following Kim out of the room.

Shego sighed happily as she watched them go, admiring Kim's retreating backside, and giving Ron's a considering gaze, _Yeah... Filling out nicely indeed..._

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Joss swam through the morass that was that hazy place between consciousness and wakefulness. The latest mission had been a toughie, involving Mego and the Wegos of Team Go, and they'd been trying to stop Adrena Lynn and her new partner in crime, Ollie McTwist. Lynn, it seemed, had taken to a harder approach to life after prison, despite her sentence being commuted to time served by a slick lawyer, and had been trash talking extreme sports, and adventurism in general.

She'd also seemed to have conquered her fear of heights and injury, either in prison or after it, with the help of her new partner. Ollie McTwist had been not only an inventive genius, but a top flight pro skateboarder for several years. Unfortunately for him, he'd been summarily kicked out of the sport for at least a year due to cheating, using his inventiveness to secretly add technology to his skateboard and gear to help him perform tricks. Some of his tricks had been seemingly impossible, and it had been said that, if he'd have approached the skating world openly, his inventions would have been embraced.

In point of fact, there had been talk of bringing him back in the sport to do just that. But he'd been too angry, and had decided to strike out on his own. When he'd failed, multiple times, to garner sponsorship for his own brand of extreme stunts, he'd spotted Lynn's blog. He'd almost immediately fallen into complete and utter agreement with her, and within a week, they'd met face to face, an come up with a grand scheme, including the name of 'The XtrEmE Duo'.

With the rebuilding going on, the X-Games and all of its sponsors had decided to hold a free for the public competition near Go City, and the terrible duo had planned to crash it. They'd also kidnapped a few of the most popular sports figures from the event, threatening them with a rather mad scientist like death ray if they didn't sign on to Ollie's newest league. Fortunately, Joss, and felix had stopped him; unfortunately, he and Adrena had gotten away, despite Felix nearly capturing them with his chair.

They'd only gotten away by knocking his chair's rockets out, and he'd managed to survive by landing on slope side a half pipe. When he realized where he was, he couldn't resist performing a double backflip as he left the other side. He'd come down to land solidly on the top of the half pipe, to the cheers of the crowd, the banging of skateboards on the ramp, and the thanks of the skaters he and Joss had saved.

Lynn and McTwist had come back, but they hadn't counted on most of Team Go joining Team Possible Bravo, as Joss had taken to calling her and Felix. They'd come back with what they called their 'XtrEmE Gear', a set of protective gear that was all but powered armor. It included rocket powered roller blades, a rocket pack, and, of all things, a grapnel gun. Joss had earned herself her first villainess arch-rival that day by comparing the former stuntwoman's gear to her cousin Kim's. She'd also taken the hardest punch she'd ever taken, and had given back as much as she got.

Unfortunately, the duo had, once again, gotten away. But this time it was due to the unintentional interference of Hego, of all people, chasing after Aviarius. The two had burst through the sky, Hego being dragged by Aviarius' latest device, the 'Kondor of Destruction'. It was a robotic, jet powered, condor shaped flying robot, and when they'd flown through the air above the venue, they had gotten between Felix - and Joss flying along with him - and the XtrEmE Duo.

But... She'd enjoyed the fight, and the comedown from the normal shakes she got after an adrenaline high. The comedown had only happened after she and Felix had gotten back to their hotel room, and she'd pounced him in an impromptu, if somewhat tame, makeout session. The action had allowed her to calm her adrenaline over time, instead of cutting it all at once, and now she basked in the afterglow.

_Who'd'a' thought that a bit a' makin' out'd calm me down without the shakes?_ she asked herself with a mental snort of amusement, before snuggling a little more comfortably against the solid, well built chest beneath her cheek. His hands were still under her shirt, resting just under her full bosom, and she sighed in deep contentment, happy that she'd at least gotten this close to the man she'd come to like, desire, and now love. She smiled and murmured to him, sounding almost as if she were talking in her sleep, "Love ya, 'Lex..."

"Really?" Felix chuckled vaguely, half asleep himself, but awake enough to lean forward and kiss the top of her head, "I love you too, Joss..."

Joss heard the words and blinked several times, her desire for sleep forgotten. Normally, Felix would murmur something like 'Mmmhmm...' or 'I'm gettin' there, Joss...", but he'd never outright said it. Against her contentment's protests, she levered herself up, ending up looking down at him, hoping, _praying_, that she didn't see any hint of kidding, or insincerity in his face. When she saw that the man she loved was barely half awake, himself, and that he was dragging himself from the same state she'd been in a moment earlier, she knew the declaration was undeniable: he'd spoken the truth from his heart, without his mind interrupting the comment.

"Um..." Felix's voice seemed nervous as he stared at the intent gaze above him, and he reached back to scratch at his neck as Joss' eyes narrowed slightly.

"How long?" She asked, her tone neutral.

"Honestly?" Felix sighed, dropping his hand to the side of her face, "I wasn't sure, really, 'til tonight. Just... The fact that I know how much you say you love me, how much you want the... Physical side of things to progress, but you never asked once for more than I feel comfortable giving..." Felix drew her in to give her a kiss on the lips, "It kinda helped me know that I really do love you..."

"That..." Joss shook her head as she smiled down at him, leaning in to touch her forehead to his as he ran his hands up along her back under her shirt, "Is _the_ most r'dic'lously roun'about way a' sayin' somethin' like that I've ever heard..."

"Well..." Felix started, but was silenced by Joss' lips on his.

"And..." she whispered when she finally broke the kiss, her eyes shimmering in the light of some late night infomercial, "Pro'lly one'a the mos' romantic things I've heard d'rected at me..."

"Thanks. I think?" Felix chuckled when Joss poked his belly, his smile becoming devious as he brought his hands to the side of her waist.

She was just leaning in to kiss him again when he began to tickle her, and she let out a girlish roar of giggles. He stopped just long enough to lift her up so she could straddle his hips, and just as she began to catch her breath, he tickled her again. "C'mon, 'Lex, sto-... Stop it!" She struggled a bit, her shirt riding up far enough that the fabric got caught in her underside of her bra.

"Why?" he chuckled up at her, lessening his tickling to soft, fingertip caresses of her firm, muscular abdomen, trailing his hands around to her sides and the small of her back, before moving around to just under her bra clad breasts, "I thought you liked me touching you?"

"Oh, God..." Joss choked as his fingertips brushed along the underside of her breasts, "Don' tell me y'all're gonna stop with that?"

"I don't know..." Felix murmured as he leaned up to kiss her neck, smiling as she groaned, "You're still under the age of consent..." Nonetheless, he traced his fingers around the underside of her bra, half a fingertip touching fabric, half skin. She pulled back slightly, stopping his rearward progress to doff her shirt, almost glaring challengingly at him.

"An' I _tol'_ ya, my daddy don' _care_ what we do t'gether, 's long as ya care for me!" Joss growled, her eyes serious as she stared down at him.

"I..." Felix forced the words against a suddenly dry mouth as he reached the rear clasp of her bra, "I'm not ready for _that_ with you yet, Joss..." He grasped her bra's strap, looking at her in the eye and making sure it was alright to proceed. She nodded and, with shaking fingers, the teen released the strap and let it go, the bra now sagging loosely in front of her frame, "But... I'm not afraid of _this_ much, for now..."

Joss dropped her hands to the side, allowing the bra to slide off and reveal her sizable bosom to her boyfriend. She was proud of her body, but especially her breasts; at 36C - or a small 36D, depending on the bra manufacturer - they were large, _especially_ for her age. But, thankfully, they were firm and while they were heavy, they were not unreasonably so, and in no way saggy. not to mention, she _loved_ how they'd jiggle when she ran! Even if overdoing it in the wrong bra could be painful...

Granted, when she'd been younger, her nipples and areola had been larger than she'd have preferred - the latter the size of a silver dollar - but as her breasts had grown, they had fit the new size perfectly. The nipples were smallish in comparison, a little larger than a pencil eraserhead, but the color of both were what she considered a perfect rosy pink. She also loved that, on the whole, her breasts were _very_ responsive, and the areola tended to shrink to just a little larger than the base of the nipple when hard, thickening the nubs to the size of her index finger to the first knuckle! To top it off, when her nipples were as hard as they were now, they were so _delightfully_ sensitive. She'd even brought _herself_ to orgasm by stimulating them while imagining men touching her!

She knew, as she felt his hands gently caressing her flesh, bringing his hands back towards the front, that he could do it to her. None of the other boys she'd done things with had, but they were too young to appreciate and tease as Felix seemed to enjoy. Their hands had been clumsy, questioning and sometimes rough, but as Felix stopped his hands right at the edge of her breasts and all but tickled the flesh, she _knew_ he was different. "I-I'm glad, 'Lex..." she stuttered, her voice catching as he gently traced his thumb up her breast to tease around the rapidly hardening peak, "I want ya t'be ready... T' _wanna_ do it 's much as _I_ do, baby..."

"Thank you, Joss..." he whispered in a husky tone, leaning forward as if to capture the rosy nub in his mouth, "You won't have to wait too long... I love you, babe..."

"Oh, God..." Joss moaned as he did what it seemed he was going to do, her arms snaking around the back of his head as she whispered, "I love you, too, baby..."

It was nearly sunrise when their making out ended in sleep, both teens topless and resting easily in each others arms...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Shego chuckled as Agent Gruber glanced at her in what he seemed to think was an unobtrusive manner for the twenty-fourth time on their trip. At first, she'd had this vague idea he was just checking her out, and she couldn't blame him with what she was wearing. She had on a pale lavender blouse with a low neckline, that was also cut just high enough to show off her toned abdomen tastefully. Below that, she wore a pair of slacks that at first looked loose, but were obviously well fitted and rode at a slight, tastefully rakish angle across her hips, both of which showed off her body quite alluringly.

While she'd been quite honest with Kim, Ron and Rufus about how she felt about her physical attractiveness with her green skin, she knew that in the darkened interior of the car her skin looked more pale and gothy than the shamrock green tint it had taken during her healing. As always, when any of her powers were used in a significant manner, the color always got more noticeable, and it drew a slight mental chuckle, _I've always known I have a hot body, and that I'm pretty, but..._ She shook her head in silent wonder at how different she felt now, less than three weeks after hanging out with Team Possible's field team, and the way they both reacted to her. _I guess I've come back around to how I felt about myself when I was with Harley or Vivi... 'Specially the way Kimmie looks at me._

When he looked again, the twenty fifth time, she confirmed that he only looked when time she bent to her left side or moved her left arm. That made her understand why he was looking, and she had to feel some respect for the young agent's budding skills. He'd hidden his real intent behind his honest interest, a technique she'd used herself, and had taught to the man she felt certain had asked him to check on her... After all, he'd been asked by no less GJ personage than Second Agent Du to personally drive up to Frankfurt and escort her back to Munich.

The same city in which Kim and Ron were awaiting word of her release from the hospital. The fact that the young agent was escorting her, as opposed to Kim and Ron picking her up, had been Shego's choice. They'd left, at her urging, the prior day when the doctors had wanted her to stay at least one more night and possibly two, for observation.

Kim had started to object, her eyes worried, when Shego had reminded her that she'd have either TJ, JJ, or both there to watch out for her, despite their leave ostensibly being to go to Oktoberfest. Besides, it'd give the three of them a day or two to catch up, as they literally had years of catching up to do!

And now, here they were, blitzing down the last 'unlimited speed' section of the Autobahn leading into Munich, and she chuckled at him. He seemed to realize he'd been caught and blushed, and she shook her head in amusement. "Don't worry 'bout it, Newbie..." Her chuckle was almost musical in her enjoyment of the moment as she continued, "I figured ol' Willie'd have ya check up on me during the drive down."

"Um?" his blush intensified, and she gave an outright laugh at his distress, drawing a defensive sounding, "Well, that _was_ my orders, but..."

"You were admiring view while you did your job!" At his blush becoming so deep he looked in danger of passing out, she laid a friendly hand on his shoulder, smiling brightly at him, "I understand, Josef, I'd've looked in your position, too! And between you, me and the road, I'm fine with both the looking, and checking up on me for Willie... He _was_ going to recruit me into GJ, and we'd become pretty good friends back then, after all!"

"I see..." Agent Gruber, Josef to his friends, considered her words. It made sense, he considered, especially since he didn't flinch when she used his first name. He smiled and chuckled himself, not having realized that the conversation they'd shared on the trip down had allowed the former supervillainess to slip past his normally reserved exterior and into the realm of friendship so easily. "Well, Shego, I'm glad to hear you are okay with it."

"Eh, he worries; I don't blame him." She reached over and gently punched him on the shoulder, "You remind me a lot of him when he was my recruiter, actually. Well, a younger and less experienced version, but, still..." She nodded when he gave her a considering glance, and she added, "Josef, most people would probably miss your glances, even some experienced counter espionage types. I'm just a step or two above the norm, y'know?"

"So... You really think I'm as good as Agent Du was when he was younger?" the young man all but preened under her commentary, and smiled brightly when she nodded, "Thank you, that means a lot, actually... Especially since he relaxed a bit!"

"Well, doy..." Shego murmured, "I'm sure even among the more serious minded GJ agents here in Germany he was considered... Stuffy?"

"Quite." Josef nodded, then sighed, "But I read a lot about his earlier career, before he had his near breakdown. He was amazing, a lot like how I picture Kim Possible if she joined GJ, if never as public a figure as she is."

"Yup..." Shego agreed, her smile becoming entirely different; more open, free, even loving as she thought about her red-head. _Yes, she's_ my _red-head now, too!_ she thought with an unabashed glee. "Kimmie's something else..." She knew her sigh sounded like a schoolgirl in love, and didn't give one single, solitary damn, either!

"You care for them a great deal, don't you?" Josef asked, and Shego nodded as if it were the easiest thing in the world to admit.

"Yeah... Ron's cool shit, and Kimmie?" She said softly, glancing at the young man she herself had come to consider a friend, at least provisionally. She quirked her lips into a smirk as she added, "Honestly, Joe, I'm pretty much in love with her."

"She's a beautiful woman, with an amazing personality. Who wouldn't fall for her?" he replied easily, "But... I have a feeling that you hope to have more than platonic feelings with her?"

"If you read the transcripts from the ICU room's recordings?" she asked leadingly, earning a negative shake of the head from Josef, "Well, you'd know she loves me, too. And Ronnie's fine with it..."

Josef barked a short, but honestly amused laugh, shaking his head ruefully, "Lucky girl..."

He didn't seem to realize he'd spoken aloud, and Shego looked at him with a devilish smirk, "Ronnie's pretty cute too..."

If Josef was surprised that Shego had caught the unintentional slip about his own open sexuality, he didn't react to it, "Very, in a... Goofy sort of way, I believe the Americans would say?" At Shego's nod, he smiled and laughed lightly, "But I like men and women that can let themselves be goofy, but serious when needed."

"Yeah, he can do both, but he used to be more goof and less serious. At least he's growing into himself..." Shego sighed, a sound somewhere between happy and despondent, "But... I dunno, I don't have the best track record with long term relationships and men..."

"Que sera, sera, as the old song says..." the agent chuckled, "But hopefully it works out for the three of you, one way or the other."

"Thanks, Josef..." Shego smiled at him as they pulled off the A-9 and onto the _Schenkendorfstraße_. They remained in a companionable silence as the agent followed the advanced, GJ sourced GPS' traffic avoidance suggestions. When the pulled onto the Schwanthalerstraße, which led to the Hausmann suites, Shego glanced over and asked, "You off any time before the Fest is over?"

"Yes," Josef said, "I'm off tomorrow and Saturday, why?"

Shego smiled and opened the center console, grabbing the cellphone he'd placed there. Quickly entering her number and sending a text to her own phone to get his, she replaced it and favored him with a wink, "Call me tomorrow around mid-afternoon and come hang out with the four of us."

"Alright," Josef smiled brightly as they pulled up to the front of the Hausmann suites, "that sounds like a plan!"

"Yup!" Shego chuckled and held out her hand, and they shook on it, "See you tomorrow and... Thanks for being a lot cooler than I thought you'd be."

"Thanks to you, too." Josef murmured, reaching back to grab her duffel bag and hand it to her.

She smiled her thanks and stood back from the car, closing the door with a wink, _I wonder what JJ'd think of him? She seems to like the boys to be like him nowadays, after all..._

They waved at each other as Shego walked into the hotel, and she shook her head. _A year ago, I'd've probably seduced him..._ she chuckled inwardly, _After all, he is cute, in that lost puppy dog sorta way, and has a nice ass..._ Then an image of another man's ass flitted across her mind, and a dream she'd had during her unconsciousness a few days before. _But so does Ron, and he's cute, too..._ She almost slapped a hand over her eyes, _What the hell's _wrong_ with me? Why can I think about seducing and screwing a man I barely know like Josef without the slightest hitch, but with Ron I get half panicked?_ She dropped her hand, biting her lip nervously as butterflies jumped to life in her stomach, _Really, why does the thought of being_ that _close to him scare me... Hell,_ terrify _me like it does?_

She sighed at the thought and took a moment to steel herself. An inside bellhop walked over to check on her and she waved her room card at him with a smile. The young man nodded and she took a deep breath, blowing out a cleansing sigh as she walked purposefully towards the elevator, suddenly glad that Kim and Ron had thought to bring one of her duffels of clothing from her room.

She felt a light bubble of worry expand from the butterflies in her stomach as the elevator doors closed, wondering what they had thought when they'd grabbed her clothes. She had a variety of outfits, all tucked away with the efficiency of someone used to moving a lot, and some of them were... Quite sexy. Granted, both of them had seen her half naked, and in racy swimwear! But there had always been something about being seen in _underwear_, or someone just _seeing_ her underwear, that pegged her embarrassment meter. And if she was interested in that person? It could nearly _break_ her arousal meter to be in the same sitch!

She giggled as a memory came to her, from not long after she'd started dating Vivian Porter; specifically her own reaction to the racy black bra and thong the blonde had preferred! She bit her lip to stifle the giggle fit she felt replacing the worry in her gut, just as the elevator reached their floor. She relaxed when she realized that she now considered it _their_ floor, and _their_ room. Not Kim and Ron's, not the room Shego was sharing with them, but _theirs_! _God, this is weird..._ she barely stifled another giggle, _I wonder how they'll react to seeing me?_

She opened the door to the suite and opened it quietly, relaxing a bit when she heard the TV blaring in the room. She closed the door quietly and set her duffel down by the table, before creeping over to the couch. She was startled to see a sleeping Rufus, remote beside him and his little blanket tucked around his frame, but not her girlfriend or her fiancé. She pouted slightly, then heard a soft moan coming from Kim and Ron's room. She glanced over and again felt the urge to slap a hand over her eyes. The two of them had left their door half opened, and she hadn't even noticed. And it was obvious they were in the middle of making out, at the very least.

She sighed softly and walked over to the door to close it, but the soft murmur of conversation interrupting Kim's moans stayed her hand. Against her better judgement, she looked into the room and the sight she beheld both shocked and aroused her in turn.

The two teens were lying across the bed, their feet towards the door, and he was lying on his left side. Kim's right arm was snaked under him, Ron holding himself up on his left elbow, somewhat trapping the red-head's arm. Her legs were splayed out, crossing at the ankles, and Ron had her right knee seemingly trapped between his. His right leg was just below the apex of her legs and barely covered her sex, as if he'd done so knowing Shego would be standing at the door.

The shock was seeing Ron's body, one that he managed to hide even in the tighter clothing she'd helped Kim suggest. He wasn't a bodybuilder by a long shot, but she had to admit, he was more muscular and solid than she'd given him credit for. Before, she'd have thought he barely pushed one hundred and seventy pounds, yet looking at him now, he had to be two hundred, perhaps two hundred and five pounds. His body wasn't ripped, but he had managed to become rather cut over the summer, showing off definition in his back, arms and legs, and even the hint of the outline around his abs.

His body was also criss-crossed with scars of various sizes; most were barely noticeable, but a few were easily seen. The four nearly parallel scars along his back, crossing from the middle of his right shoulder blade to just above his left kidney made her shudder a bit; she remembered giving that to him, and felt a wash of guilt rush through her gut. She wondered at the two ugly scars going down his left leg, moving from his hipbone back and around to just above his left knee, as well as a few older burn marks that she knew weren't from her own plasma.

She also saw a few, recent marks on his chest, and barely repressed the urge to snicker, _Princess likes giving love bites, eh?_ The thought brought an evil glint in her eyes as she began to appreciate his body as it was: firm, fit, almost the exact musculature she liked for more than just sex and one that had seen its share of the real world. The scars, she felt, were as attractive as his build, and she smiled to herself, the glint in her eye fading, _I could get used to seeing that on a regular basis, too..._

Then she moved down, only then noticing his endowment. He wasn't huge or scary in the manhood department. Oh, he was bigger than average, if you believed various magazine articles and the talk she remembered hearing in locker rooms or clubs and the like. And based on her own experience, a bit on the girthy side for his length. But he was definitely no porn star!

Somehow, that made her feel a lot more comfortable about him, since it was obvious the big hands and ears weren't living up to the wive's tale. She also found herself appreciating the shape of it, almost textbook perfect in her eyes, except for the noticeable - but not sharp - rightward bend it had. _Wonder if that's natural or if it happened in some kind of accident?_ She pondered that for a moment before shrugging and deciding to ask him later.

Seeing Kim's body completely nude brought more of her scars to light; a few were from Shego, but the red-head had dozens of scars, almost all of them fine and unnoticeable if you weren't concentrating. The few noticeable ones were quite visible, but Kim was lucky in that they'd be hidden from view by clothing. The one that most concerned Shego was one she hadn't noticed even when she'd trimmed Kim's bush: a round one just inside of her hipbone that looked like a bullet wound or something similar.

Shego pursed her lips and tore her eyes back up to Ron, and noticed that Kim wasn't just lying there, but was running her hand across his shoulders, occasionally tangling in his hair or grasping onto him when he did something she liked. And at the moment, she seemed both pleased and disconcerted by his hand and its movements; his right hand was tracing seemingly careless, random touches along her front. Right and left, up and down, slowly moving from the bare underside of her slight breasts to just brushing the top of the stylized "KP" the former thief and the heroine had trimmed into her pubis the prior Friday.

Shego looked upon Kim's face, and a soft, barely audible sigh of adoration escaped her lips at how... How _cute_ she looked in that moment. The red-head had a loving, yet frustrated look on her face as Ron's questing fingers moved a little bit higher, and a little bit lower with each caress, as well as moving further and further out from the centerline of her body. _Wow..._ She thought with an appreciative mental chuckle, _I guess he's a quick study..._

"Ronnie..." Kim mewled breathlessly as he finally crested his hand over the top of her left breast, and began to circle her already hard nipple, "Please stop teasing me?"

"I don't know, KP..." Ron murmured, his voice husky with his own desire, "You've been so hyper and demanding today..." He chuckled as he leaned down to flick his tongue with a featherlight caress across her right nipple, his left thumb and forefinger gently rolling her left between them.

"Oh, dammit, Ronnie!" Kim begged, her voice strained. Ron pulled back and moved his hand away from her breast to caress the area below her armpit with those teasing fingers, "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about Shay..." Kim leaned up to try and kiss him, but he pulled back further, snickering slightly. Kim flopped back and turned her face from him to the ceiling, the pout becoming a worried grimace, "What if something happened and she had to go back in for more surg-..."

"Will would have called us..." Ron assured her firmly, his voice rising slightly to add weight to his words. The same words that had flashed through Shego's mind and almost leapt from her lips. She bit her lips as she watched that hand begin to move down Kim's body, tracing along the top of her right leg to the knee, then across to move back up her left leg. "You know he would have, KP... And if not him, then Wade!"

"I-I... I guess..." Kim breathed as Ron moved his leg down her leg a bit, and slid his fingertips across and under the letters trimmed into her pubis and almost, but not quite touching Kim's clit.

At this, Shego's gaze stopped following Ron's errant hand, and focused on the part of Kim that had just been revealed to her. Shego felt her mouth dry up for an instant, before her body reacted in an an almost Pavlovian fashion. _I..._ even in her own thoughts she stuttered for several seconds, and had trouble swallowing against a jumble of emotions rising up in her throat, _Oh, god... It's cute, and so... So... It's so perfect!_

That was the only way she could describe it: cute and perfectly so. The younger woman's beautiful center had Shego almost literally drooling. The younger woman's legs, splayed as they were, spread it open like a flower seeking the sun. The former thief's heated, desire fogged mind took the simile and ran with it, and she quickly realized Kim's core did, indeed, look like a flower: a calla lily, rosy pink petals and hints of nectar in the interior...

"Oh, God..." Shego whispered, slapping her hand over her mouth when the words escaped. But she needn't have worried, because Ron's hand had come back during her staring at Kim's lovely center, and had brushed along the top of her clitoral hood. The red-head had gasped loudly, then moaned in despair as Ron's finger trailed along it once, twice and then back up her body in a slow, meandering path.

"Kimberly..." Ron whispered in a sing-song manner, drawing both Kim and Shego's attention to him. He wore a loving, if slightly uncertain smile as his hand more firmly grasped onto her left breast once again. "Are you more worried about Shego going back to surgery?" he asked leadingly, "Or that she'll change her mind about you?"

_You'd better not even_ think _that, Princess!_ Shego's mental bark was firm and commanding, and she almost jumped when Kim spoke in just as firm a tone.

"Not on your life!" the red-head growled, her left hand digging into the back of his shoulder, "I love her, she loves me! No _way_ she'd have lied, or changed her mind about that!"

"Good..." Ron whispered, leaning down to kiss her lips gently, before pulling back just enough to whisper, "But you were still worrying yourself sick about it, weren't you?"

Kim pouted a bit, but nodded, looking somewhat ashamed, "I guess I was... It's just... She's so beautiful, and I'm..." She glanced down at herself, and them back up at him when the pressure on her breast lessened. She reached up with her free hand to hold his in place on her breast, her eyes sincere when she continued, "I'm sorry, I know I'm attractive, it's just hard to remember, sometimes... I guess I was starting to worry you too, huh?"

"Yeah..." Ron murmured, giving Kim's breast a firm, and to Shego's eyes, painful squeeze. Kim, however, seemed to have been waiting for just that, and moaned wantonly, pushing the small breast into Ron's large hand.

"Please, Ronnie..." she begged him, "Please stop _teasing_ me!"

"No problemo... Kimmie..." Ron promised. Kim froze for a few instants, staring at him with an expression of mingled shock and consternation. After a moment, though, looking into his loving eyes, she smiled and let go of his hand, letting her arm trail up his to cup his cheek and nodded at his use of Shego's pet name. A brief moment later she leaned up to kiss him firmly, moaning into his mouth as he returned the kiss just as firmly.

Shego took in the moment as she rolled the nickname around in her head, using Ron's voice, before smiling with a nod of approval... And almost called out in protest as Ron's hand moved slightly, his fingers literally clamping onto Kim's nipple with painful force. But she was stopped when Kim gasped, then moaned in obvious pleasure. Shego blinked in surprise as Kim arched her breast, first towards and then away from Ron's hand, increasing the pressure of the tight pinch. The red-head bit her lip and hissed, "Mmmnnnngh... Ha-harder, _please_, Ronnie..."

"Sshhh..." Ron whispered, and Shego's gaze snapped to his face, and the sure, caring gaze he still wore, "Not too much at once, KP..." With that, he leaned down and clamped his mouth over her other nipple and suckled, drawing another moan from Kim. Then he sucked harder, somehow managing to take literally half of of her slight breast into his mouth. After several seconds of Kim's aroused, passionate moaning, Ron pulled his head back, releasing the breast with an audible pop, as well as letting go of the briefly tortured nipple.

"God..." Kim whispered, leaning up to kiss him again as his hand trailed back down her body, her free arm pulling his head closer to her, "I love you, Ron... I love you so muc-ugh!" She bucked when his finger stroked her sex, flicking her clit several times. Then she was kicking her leg free of his legs, snaking her now free leg around both of his in an almost awkward fashion so it rested just below his hips. She grabbed his hand to stop his movements, to help leverage her arm out from under him, and used that arm to reach around his neck to hold onto his right shoulder and draw herself up for a kiss.

"Love you too, Kimmie..." he whispered into her ear after they broke apart, slipping his hand free from hers to reach down to tease at her nether lips. She grabbed onto his forearm as his hand brushed along each side, up and down, without touching anything particularly sensitive. Kim's frustration was obviously rising, as she growled and bucked at his hand, trying desperately to make contact, to get _some_ of the friction she desired.

"Ron!" she growled dangerously and moved as if ready to get up. Ron moved his hand and held fast to her, his fingers splayed out along her stomach just below her navel. Grunting in annoyance, she leaned her hips and shoulders to her left, grinding her rear into his stomach and causing his manhood to brush along her center, "Fine, if you're just gonna tease me with foreplay, stop teasing and screw me, dammit!"

"Okay!" Ron chuckled, smirking at her as he leaned down to give her lips a few, teasing pecks before the red-head managed to trap him into a long, passion filled kiss. Shego watched in fascination as separated and Kim rolled fully onto her left, spread her lovely legs and Ron moved to kneel before her, keeping Kim's core frustratingly blocked from her sight... Although she could see almost all of him! She wanted to growl in frustration as he gently worked his way inside of her - the action itself _just_ out of the pale woman's sight - and the former thief marveled at how tight the red-head must be.

He was obviously being careful, but even so, Kim gasped as if she were unused to sex, which the pale woman knew was not the truth. They had, after all, had sex at least four times since her period had finished, and that didn't include the older woman's time unconscious! Then, the blond was inside the woman Shego loved and he paused a moment, whispering to her, "Ready?"

"Yes..." Kim hissed, and Ron began to pump himself in and out of her.

She gasped and groaned, her face flashing between feeling an almost uncomfortable pressure and pleasure, before she had relaxed and her own juices had slicked his manhood for easy movement. Shego watched in fascination as the blond carefully pushed Kim's right leg up, her knee resting over his right shoulder, and leaned forward, both hands beside her shoulders as she leaned up for a soft, intimate kiss. The position allowed him depth, and the red-head began to moan louder. Shego realized the obvious reason they both liked his position: the rightward bend of his manhood allowed it to brush at her g-spot.

_I'm honestly a bit jealous, Princess..._ Shego bit her lip and leaned against the door, her right hand unconsciously brushing against her left breast. Her nipples were already hard and seeing Ron inside the woman Shego had come to love... His fiancée... Yet, hearing that woman moan with obvious pleasure was arousing her significantly more than she'd expected it would. _Oh, God, I better... Better get to my room..._

But she couldn't. She watched Kim's heaving chest, her nipples standing hard and proud from her body...

Her face flushed with desire, wearing a look of deep, profound pleasure and love...

Heard her words as she murmured sweet - and not so sweet - things to Ron...

It was almost too much to witness, and yet Shego's mind began completely fogged over in arousal at the couple's sex... No, their _lovemaking_... And she admitted she wanted, _needed_, to see them together! With that hesitant, but honest admission, her right hand unbuttoned her blouse, the hand sliding under her bra to gently fondle her breast. Her left hand quickly joined in the stimulation, unbuttoning her pants and sliding her zipper down, before moving under the panties to brush and tease the sensitive bundle just peaking through her own lips.

Ten minutes later, Shego was leaning against the doorjamb as opposed to the door, and riding along the cusp of her own orgasm. She had to stifle her own cry as she saw Ron's balls shudder, saw the pulsing of the underside of his cock as he groaned his pleasure into Kim. She took long, slow breaths as she brought herself down, hoping Kim would be alright with Ron having finished before her, and bit back a laugh, _He did a lot better than most of the guys I've known, and quite a few I've heard about!_

Then Kim shocked her with a simple request, "Don't stop, Ronnie..." Her tone was pleading, breathless, but so aroused Shego felt a second orgasm threaten, "I'm so close, babe, _please_ don't stop..." Ron made a grunting sound of acknowledgement and nodded at her. To Shego's shock, he kept his movements up, and amazement clouded her lust addled mind as, despite having just come, Ron stayed almost completely hard within Kim... And _was_ completely hard within another minute or so. She had met two men who had that capability in her life and slept with one of them. After her three sexual experiences with the Señor Senior, Junior, she'd always been a bit jealous of TJ's wife.

And now, she felt a bit jealous of Kim, and some small dose of anger at her own hesitation with the young man. _God..._ she murmured as he kept his pace, and a second orgasm washed over her as she beheld his face; it was a mix pleasure at the sensations he felt and the nearly painful overstimulation he must be feeling, but mostly... The desire and love for the woman underneath him... Shego felt a strange confliction within her own arousal as Ron continued his soft grunting and Kim came closer and closer to her own release. _Dammit, Kimmie! You _would_ make me fall for you when you're hiding something like this!_

_But then,_ some other part of her mind whispered with a dark snigger of amusement, _you know you could never have that with her there, or with your own feelings..._ She couldn't place the voice, but knew it wasn't her own thoughts! It couldn't be, because she was _not_ a coward! She'd never back down from a challenge like this...

_Oh, I'm sure you'd like to believe that, but_ look at you_!_ Another dark chuckle, _Just _look_! You want to be right there with her, helping him get her off, but instead... _Instead_, you just_ had _to become friends first, and you_ know _what happens to men you get close to before screwing them, right? One_ died_ and the_ other _nearly threw away his very promising career, and became a complete and total, stick up his ass_ loser_!_ A dark chuckle resounded in her head, and she could almost, _almost_ see the face behind her torment, _And because of that, we_ all _know you couldn't be close to her while he's there... Inside her, loving her like you want to... You know I'm right, don't you?_

She wanted to deny the thought, but was having immense trouble working around it. Just as she couldn't bring herself to consider Ron more than a friend. If... If she'd have fallen for Kimmie first, instead of becoming such good friends with them, maybe... Maybe she could have had him, then become friends, while loving and making love to Kimmie and maybe even kept on with him... But now? Now she probably couldn't even be close to_ Kim _while he was with her. It would be too much, too painful to be close to someone she was merely _fond_ of, while he made love to someone she _loved_!

_No!_ that first part of her protested, and she pushed off of the doorjamb. _I_ won't _let that happen! I'll _prove_ to you I can be close to her, even if he's _right there_! That I can be close to_ him_, too! I _can_!_ Despite her every instinct, and some... Some _thing_ she was sure wasn't part of her, she took a hesitant step forward.

Yet... Images, visions of agony on a deep, personal level assaulted her as she crossed the threshold of the room, and the voice whispering in deadly certitude, _You'll cause them pain, you'll come between them when it's most important, just like you did with Harley..._

_She saw Kim lying broken, black arterial blood oozing from her mouth and nose as she took hacking breaths to try and live... Her body leaking its life from grievous wounds bleeding in some ditch in a third world country all because Shego and Ron were too busy with each other to help her out..._

The visual was vivid, horrifying as it flashed across her mind. She ignored it and took another, more sure step... Yet more visuals struck her, the fell voice now murmuring in her head, _They'll grow tired of you, forget about you..._

_She watched from just inside the church's vestibule, listening to Ron's joyous laughter as it rang out from the altar as Kim said, "I do!" She hadn't received an invitation, as they left her behind, wanting to erase their experimentation with the former thief from their lives and move..._

_We know how you think, you deceptive bitch!_ the voice screamed, _We_ know _how you think, that you'll_ make _her choose even if you don't want her to, and you'll_ both _lose him!_ She took another step, slipping her half open blouse up and over her head without conscious thought, even as she ignored the screaming in her head, as a visual of an oddly familiar cemetery assaulted her senses...

_Kim screamed her hatred at Shego for making her choose between Ron and herself. And when the man had returned to Yamanouchi, he had taken on missions that were far more dangerous than any they had faced together... And there, in the 'Hero's Plot' of Go City Cemetary, the red-head spat at her before turning, hugging the statue atop Ron's gravestone, cursing her with her eye..._

_Don't ignore my warnings, you useless slut! You'll ruin them, you'll bring nothing but your own self hatred between them and yourself!_ A third step against the nearly incoherent hatred screaming in her mind! She was halfway to Kim's side - to _Kim and Ron's_ side - and she slid the well fitted slacks off of her hips, dragging her socks off with them...

_Rufus scowled at her, not bothering to hide his contempt as he turned from her and begged imploringly to his human and his lady as Shego stared slack jawed at them. His cries fell on deaf ears as Ron and Kim declared their separation, from each other and her,_ because _of her, so they could all go their separate ways..._

_Don't ignore me, or you'll regret it for the rest of your life!_ the voice commanded, desperation clinging to its edges as she focused on her love and her love's lover, her love, her life, and hoped for a place in the beauty she saw there, _And it_ will _be a shortened life with them, you'll leave one of them bereft as you cost yourself and the other your lives, I_ swear _to you!_ Shaking her head defiantly, she took a fourth step, and she reached back to unclasp her bra, letting it slide easily off of her arms, and she forced her heart to ignore the stabbing pain of another vision...

_Ron howled in near animalistic agony as he clutched onto her own dying form, screaming to the heavens, begging to know why he received such punishment for loving them. They had lost Kim and Rufus to what should have been a simple mission, and now, what she'd promised him was her final mission before they could settle down, he'd lost Shego..._

_Liar!_ she screamed at the voice as she took a fifth step despite the pain that lanced through her mind; she almost stumbled, but kept her feet and slid her panties off of her long, curvacious legs before stepping out of them, _Damn you! I... Will..._ Not_... Let..._ Whatever _you are_ stop _me! Do you hear me?_ She let her assurance flow over her mind and down through her soul, washing away he incoherently screaming apparition that was herself and not herself. What remained was a strange knot of warmth in her heart as she lifted her foot to take her final step, despite one last attempt to sway her...

_A final vision... She saw her brothers, dressed in their heroic finest... Ron's now teenaged little sister with Rufus on her shoulder and his parents... The Drs. Possible holding a beautiful four year old, red-haired girl who bawled into her grandmother's shoulder and the Tweebs... All looking on with sad, but disapproving eyes at her love and her love's husband... While they, Kim and Ron, stared down at her with grief writ plainly on their faces as a priest droned on, only cutting off as someone closed the casket lid down over her lifeless body..._

The sixth step ended with her standing over the foot of their bed. Kimmie felt her presence, turned her eyes to Shego... Only to gasp, "Oh, _God_..." She began to shake bodily and let out a low, soft keen as her orgasm washed over her. She rode the wave with shuddering breaths, before finally recovering enough to glance between Shego's nude form and her fiancé, as if confused, worried, and pleased beyond her own personal ability of comprehension.

Ron kept his movements up until Kim had come down from her orgasm, before leaning down to kiss her gently on the lips. He then glanced back at Shego and pulled out of Kim to lay beside her, resting a hand over her heart and letting the younger woman roll onto her back. He favored Shego with a curious, vaguely accepting gaze as his manhood visibly softened, a faint blush on his face as she stared frankly up and down both his and Kim's bodies.

Kim kept staring at Shego as if in a dream when the older woman finally focused on her and dropped into a half squat. She leaned forward to caress the right side of her face, the side closest to Ron, smiling softly as she glanced between them, "I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Shay?" Kim begged softly, her left hand reaching across her body to press Shego's hand to her face. She glanced over at Ron, whose face seemed to be drawing into a pleased smile, as if accepting the security consultant's presence without any hesitation at all.

"Yeah, Princess..." Shego couldn't help but smirk at Kim's still shocked expression, kissing the red-head's lips gently, "I'm back..." She swallowed, her hand moving from Kim's face, her other hand gathering up Ron's from the red-head's chest and pressing it together with Kim's, holding her hands over theirs. When she spoke, her voice was strong, despite the terror the statement she uttered drove into her heart, "Right where I belong..."

"Yeah?" Ron asked in an almost challenging manner, his eyebrow raised slightly as he and Kim both brought their free hands up to join in the clasp they shared.

"Yeah..." Shego answered with a smile instead of the smirk they'd seemed to have expected. After a moment, they let go of each other and she stood just enough to lay on the bed on Kim's other side, mimicking Ron's position and conveniently half trapping Kim's left arm under her shoulder and chest as Ron had Kim's right arm earlier. "Like Princess said earlier, I love her and she loves me... I'd never change my mind, and I don't think she will, either..."

"I won't..." Kim whispered as Ron's hand returned to gently caressing her belly, blinking like she had just realized it wasn't a dream, that Shego was there, laying in bed with her and Ron, just as naked as they were, "I love you, Shay... Almost... No,_ as _much as I love Ron!"

Shego looked down into her alluring jade eyes and smiled softly, leaning down to kiss her nose and murmured, "I'm fine with almost right now, Princess... Don't rush your feelings, 'kay?"

"'Kay..." Kim murmured in a startlingly demure manner, as she blushed, a happy smile on her face lending a startling innocence when she added, "But when I said I love you as much, I'm not pushing, I promise!"

"Good..." Ron chuckled at Kim's declaration, kissing her lightly on the temple before looking at Shego seriously, "Same with you, Sheegs!"

"Of course..." Shego nodded almost absently, but the look in her eyes as she gazed across Kim's body said she understood perfectly. He smiled at her and nodded at the unspoken question he saw in her eyes, and the pale woman looked down at Kim, her left hand taking the place of Ron's right on her torso, "Before the mission... You said you wanted to do... _More_ than we were before, right, Kimmie?"

"Yeah," Kim said with a slight, worried pout, "But I remember you said that it might be too soon, and I agreed..." She grimaced as her own words came back to her. She gazed firmly at Shego, her right arm pulling Shego closer to her, the hand almost desperately grasping onto the older woman's shoulder, "B-but... I don't want to wait... I want you, Shay Gottlieb... I want you to make love to me... _I_ want to make love to _you_!"

"Same here, Princess..." Shego whispered, biting her lip as she glanced at Ron, then back at Kim, "I wasn't kidding when I said I love you... It's been a while, but, I promise, if tonight's not really... Love making... It'll be a whole lot more than just sex, Kimmie..." Kim cocked her head and the pale woman smiled down at her. Brushing a few stray hairs from the red-head's sweat slicked face, she murmured, "Kimmie, I want to _show_ you how much I love you..."

She knew she sounded almost shy as she made her declaration, and it was somewhat embarrassing due to how accurate it was. She was better at showing than making love filled declarations; she always had been. _Like I told Harley..._ she mused, _Saying it is always so much harder for me than showing it._ Even so, she knew that someone she felt that way about deserved to know how she felt, and she wouldn't hesitate to let them know, damn her own embarrassment or what anyone else thought!

"Aww man..." Ron grunted with a dramatic facepalm, the teasing tone from earlier still in his voice. When the two women turned to look at him, he replied, "It took KP almost fourteen years to figure out she loved me, and you got it in two weeks!"

"Actually..." Kim said with a half serious, half teasing glint in her eye, "I've known Shego for almost five years, and a lot of that was a passionate, if adversarial, relationship..."

"Please..." Shego chimed in with a wistful smile, "The first several times I was actually trying to kill you..." Her smile became apologetic as she gazed back at Kim, "And... I'm sor-..."

Kim stopped her mid-word with a finger on her lips. "You don't have to say you're sorry..." the red-head assured her, then quirked her lips in a smile. Even with the smile, though, her eyes shimmered slightly, "Unless you want to hear me blubber about the Bueno Nacho Headquarters..."

"Okay..." Shego gave an oddly delighted, relieved laugh, "So... We shall never speak of this again?"

"Unless someone else brings it up!" Kim agreed, Ron making a wordless sound of agreement.

"Good..." Shego murmured, leaning in to steal a quick kiss from Kim's lips. Both women sighed when Shego pulled away, and the older woman smirked down at her, "You taste good, Princess..." She turned that smirk on Ron and licked her lips and leaned halfway towards him, "Kinda like a mix of you and the Doofus, here..."

"Shay!" Kim protested in mock sincerity, "He's not _a_ Doofus!" Kim leaned up and between Shego and her fiancé, kissing him firmly before lying back with a self-satisfied smirk of her own, "He's _my_ Doofus..."

"Yes he is..." Shego murmured and planted a few soft, but intense kisses on Kim's neck, "And _you_ are _our_ Princess... KP..."

Kim's eyes widened as Shego used Ron's nickname for her, much as they had when Ron had used Shego's nickname. She glanced at Ron and saw a huge, beaming smile on his face, and then back at the slightly nervous-looking Shego, who was glancing between her and Ron. Then she smiled and leaned up, kissing the older woman with surprisingly intense passion, before breaking the kiss and pulling Shego halfway on top of her to look her square in the eyes, "Thank you..."

"No problem, Kimmie..." Shego nodded, her still moving hand gliding up to caress Kim's right breast with a tender, almost shy squeeze. "Do you want to... Would you like me to make love to you, Kimmie... Or wait?"

"Please?" Kim's gaze held nervous anticipation, "I'm not experienced with touching myself, and you're my first woman, so, um... I'm not completely sure what to do, but..."

"Shhh..." Shego brought her hand away from Kim's breast to place a gentle finger along her lips, "It's easy to learn..." She traced her finger around Kim's full lips and then along her chin, down her jaw and along her neck, "But it's hard to master..." She let her hand trail down again, running her fingernail around Kim's still hard nipple with barely any pressure, but stopping her speech with a nervous hum.

Kim reached up with her pinned arm and stroked it gently along Shego's back, whispering, "What is it, Shay?"

The older woman shivered slightly and gave Kim an unusually shy smile, whispering, "It's hard to master being with a woman... But I hope you want me around long enough to do just that?"

"Yes..." Ron and Kim said as one, and both teens giggled at Shego's startled, slightly bemused expression. Kim snaked her arm out to pat Ron's cheek and nodded, "Yes, we do..."

"Good..." Shego's grin was devilish as she gently rolled Kim's nipple between her thumb and forefinger. There was a slight shifting, and Ron levered himself up to support his upper body on his hand and left arm. The security consultant stared at him incredulously and asked, "Where do you think you're going, Potential Boy?"

"I..." Ron started, and saw the same question in Kim's eyes, and a bit more annoyance than Shego was showing, "Um, I wasn't sure if you wanted me aroun-..."

"Uh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh..." Shego pushed herself up as well, earning a whine from Kim as the older woman waved the hand that had just been teasing her between herself and Ron, "Oh, no you don't! It's obvious Kimmie doesn't want either one of us exclusively..." Kim murmured an agreeing grunt, and Shego continued, "And I damn sure won't come between you two like that... This is something Kimmie wants from_ both _of us, and I have this feeling she wants to share her first time with a woman with you..." She glanced down at Kim, who nodded, then back at Ron, "And, don't ask me how, but I know _damn_ good and well we'd _both_ be too nervous with you out there with Rufus watching TV for our first time with each other... I want you here, Ron... With Kimmie, by me, when I make love to her... I want you to enjoy this as much as she does, even if... Even if I have trouble with the idea of being with you..."

"Stay with me, with_ us_, Ronnie..." Kim murmured lowly, reaching out to grasp the hand that was supporting him, "I still want you here... I want to touch you, to feel you when I'm with her, too..."

Ron opened his mouth to speak, has gaze slightly troubled and worried as he looked at Shego, but she cut him off with as soothing a voice as she could muster, "Sport... Please, trust us, 'kay? She's your fiancée, and you two love each other too much to miss out on... Something like this." she reached her hand up to brush his sweaty cowlick out of his face a bit, her tone sure and comforting as she continued, "Like I said, I want you here, to enjoy this with her..." _And... I_ have _to know, if I can be close to you..._ She added silently. Not wanting to fall into those same, dangerously maudlin thoughts, she chuckled and gave Kim a lascivious gaze, "And, well... She seems like quite a handful, and it's been almost three years for me... I could probably use the assist!"

"You're both sure?" Ron asked, his gaze still worried and concerned as he stared at the bed between himself and Kim, but the worry seemed to be directed at himself, "I mean, I'm still kind of... I dunno..."

"You're not a loser, if that's what you're worried about, Ron! You're as much a hero as Kimmie is, and you're one_ hell _of a caring lover..." Shego interrupted once again, and drew his eyes to hers. He seemed to get lost in those eyes, so much like Kim's, but shining, shimmering slightly in the dim light of the room, "I saw that myself... God damn, boy! I got myself off pretty damn hard watching you two... Twice!" Ron gaped and Kim giggled at the comment. Seeing that Ron still needed some convincing, Shego reached out to run a calming hand through Ron's hair, feeling elated as it only sent a slight stab of worry through her heart, "Ron... I do love Kimmie, I want... I_ need _to make love to her... But I also care for you, so I don't want to leave you out..." She took a deep breath and blew out a cleansing sigh, "And... I promise, I'm trying to work through my issues when it comes to you... I won't leave you hanging, one way or the other, for long, okay?"

"Um, 'kay..." Ron blushed, smiling hesitantly at her, then down at Kim, "I... How is this going to work, exactly?"

"I've never tried a threesome," Shego shrugged, "Thought about it a few times, watched plenty of porn of them, but never tried it... And, I won't lie..." She glanced at Kim, "Unless I'm really tweaked out emotionally, I can't do the... Rough play you seem to like, and that Ronnie here can give you..." She gave Kim an honestly apologetic look, "So... How about this?" She smiled with an evil glint in her eyes that the two teens hadn't seen for some time, "I think the two of us should concentrate on Kimmie here for now... And if one of us touches the other, well, whatever happens, happens, right?"

"Okay..." Ron agreed with his goofy grin once more plastered on his face, and reached out with a feather light touch to Kim's hip, drawing a low, aroused hiss from her, "But, um... Why can't you do the pinchy and rough play thing, normally?"

"Because I'm extremely sensitive..." Shego admitted easily, "A nipple pinch like you have Princess when you finally stopped teasing her?" Ron nodded, "That would have me on my feet and screaming at whoever tried to start off with it... Or ask for it off the bat, 'cause of sympathetic pain..." Ron and Kim both made a silent 'Oh' with their mouths, and Shego continued with a half shrug, "Maybe half the time I can get worked up to a point close to that... But_ nearly _not that hard, to be honest. But I _do_ like giving love bites..."

"And Kimmie loves getting them more than she loves giving!" Ron exclaimed as he pointed to his chest and shoulder, chuckling when Kim blushed and let out a soft squeak of protest. The red-head pouted at him when he stuck his tongue out, and he amended with a wink, "Well, as long as they're not visible..."

"Good..." Shego chuckled darkly, "You ready for this, Pumpkin?" Shego gazed down at the young woman that she had come to love... That was soon to become her lover...

"Yes..." Kim shook slightly in anticipation, "God, _please_, yes..."

"As you wish..." Shego murmured with a husky murmur, her lips grazing and gently sucking the flesh just below her left ear, speaking as she began to move downwards, "My Princess..."

"_Our_ Princess..." Ron added, gently holding Kim's right arm against her belly for a moment to nibble gently at the sensitive flesh of the inside of her elbow...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

Kim hissed as Shay's wonderfully soft lips kissed and gently suckled a line from her ear down to the hollow of her throat, where she paused to gently lap and lavish attention on the spot, much to Kim's delight. She hadn't even noticed Ron moving and trapping her arm until she heard his declaration and felt his teeth gently nibbling on the inside of her elbow. She gasped, then let out a soft mewl of excitement at the sensations it drove up her arm to sit heavily in the hollow of her throat. When Shego finally started moving up the other side of her neck, the heavy feeling of excitement slid down her body to sit just above her sex, as if the inexorable flow of lava to the sea.

Then Ron stopped his nibbling, begining to give little nips as he moved up her arm a bit, jumping across the small gap to nip at the top of her breast. Kim moaned into the short, thick mane of Shay's hair as the woman finally began nibbling on her right ear, and she found herself gently kissing the side of the woman's slender, graceful neck, wanting to return some of the feelings she was receiving.

When Shego pulled back to smile down at her, Kim dropped her trapped arm from the older woman's back to the bed, balling the sheets in her hand, hissing out, "Oh, dammit, you two, don't tease me tonight, please?"

"Sorry, Princess..." Shay murmured next to her right ear as Ron began to nip around her right nipple, "For all intents and purposes, I'm new to your body, and I have every excuse to explore..." Kim moaned in twined pleasure and frustration as the older woman ran her tongue slowly around the helix of her ear before pulling back just enough for her hair to tickle Kim's face. Chuckling darkly, the older woman moved down slightly to plant a deep, intense kiss on Kim's lips.

Then the nibbles near her nipple stopped and Ron chuckled huskily, "She's a great kisser, isn't she, KP?"

"Mmm-hmmm..." Kim managed to answer, enjoying the soft dueling of her tongue with Shay's. Their last make-out session had been more intense, but this was more like their first, tentative kiss... And_ so _much better! There was no hesitation, no nervous exploration; only the enjoyment of an intimate gesture that left Kim feeling as if she were melting from within.

Then she bucked in shock, gasping pleasure into Shay's mouth as Ron bit down on her right nipple. She arched into it, pulling away from the older woman with a breathless, "Nnngh, Ron..."

"You really do like pain, huh, Kimmie?" Shay asked in a slightly bemused yet amused fashion.

"N-not... Not a lot of pain, but..." She had to stop and bit her lip hard as Ron bore down on her nipple again, and she glanced down to see him winking up at Shay, "Muhh... My n-nipples... Are kinda weird..." She swallowed as Ron let up and gently suckled on the hard nub, "Oohhh... I... I can either feel real light, or pretty hard pinches or grabs... But anything in between is just pressure. Same with the breasts."

"Strange..." Shay murmured as she reached her stroking hand up to gently caress Kim's free breast, the older woman's sensitive skin jumping when Ron's hair tickled her hand, "Like I said earlier, I'm not sure I can do that for you, Kimmie... 'Cept maybe love bites..." Her tone was earnest as she gazed at the young woman, and Kim felt her heart jump at the concern and love she heard there, "I saw earlier that you didn't like Ron teasing you, yet here you are, letting _us_ tease you... And I can't help but be glad..."

"M-me, too..." Kim addmited bashfully, "It's... It's okay, Shay... The way you touch, the way you tease... I think I can get used to it, for som-..." Ron chose that moment to increase the force of his sucking, and she squeaked out, "Some reason!" He let go with a loud pop, her nipple and the area around it red ever so slightly puffy, and smiled up at her.

"You're used to her teasing you already..." Ron joked before he reached out in an unthinking manner to brush Shay's hair from her face, "Don't worry, Shay... She'll bark about it, but she's rarely serious about not liking it when_ I _tease her... And I'm serious, with you teasing her for years with all those taunts and stuff, she could probably take it from you a lot better than me..."

"I could..." Kim nodded, reaching up with her free hand to cup Ron's hand to Shay's face, holding her hand over Ron's to share in the gesture. The raven haired beauty blushed at the contact, but smiled and raised her hand to clasp both in hers with a brief squeeze before returning it gently to the breast Ron had just finished with, "Hmmm, I do like that, Shay... And I_ am _okay with teasing normally, it's just... When Ron does it sometimes, it just drives me nuts, and not in a good way!" She wrapped her still free arm around the older woman and drew her close to give her a gentle, heartfelt kiss before letting her pull back, blushing up at the former thief. "But with you... I... I really, _really_ like it so far..."

"Maybe it's 'cause you already got off?" Shay snickered, earning a deeper blush that crawled across Kim's face, to the crown of her head, and down, all the way to the tops of her feet. Shay stared wide eyed at the sight, her mouth hanging open in a mix of wonderment and shock at the sight. "Wow..."

"What?" Kim nervously asked, squirming under the frank appraisal from both of her loves.

"That..." Shay said, her mouth working for a moment before she cooed, "Is so_ cute_!" She moved her left hand from Kim's breast to her belly, circling the navel before trailing it back up between Kim's breasts, her fingers brushing so softly they tickled. "My cute, ticklish little Princess..." She chuckled fondly as she made the red-head squirm and the blush around her face and chest to darken. "I didn't think I could fall for you any more, Kimmie..." she whispered, leaning down to take Kim's left nipple in her mouth as Ron silenced any protests from Kim by leaning in to kiss her deeply, "Buph I wfas wong..."

She worried gently at the hard nub, and moved her hand back down, twirling her fingers around Kim's navel again. She stopped suckling at the nipple and moved inwards with a trail of kisses, which interrupted her words as she went, "So cute... So sexy... God, Princess... Your body's _amazing_!" She stopped dead center between Kim's breasts and began to suckle the flesh there.

After a brief moment, Shego managed to get a little bit of flesh into her mouth, where she worried at it like a dog with a rawhide chew. Kim gasped, feeling the barest edge of pain send spikes of pleasure from the point to the apex of her breasts, then to her mind, fogging her mind even more with lust and the feeling of being loved and desired as one. She sighed contently through her nose, then gasped in shocked pleasure, a mewling sound escaping around Ron's active lips.

Shay pulled up and let the flesh go, apparently surveying her handiwork, and Ron pulled back so he and Kim could look as well. There between Kim's breasts was a slightly oblong spot, so deep red it looked nearly violet, and Kim gasped as the cool air of the room hit it. "I liked that, Shay..." she whispered, biting her lip to keep from saying more and glancing between her two lovers.

"Mine..." Shay smirked, dropping her head back to kiss just below the spot, then began moving the kisses slowly lower. Kim closed her eyes and laid her head back, feeling goosebumps rising behind each light kiss.

"Oh, really?" Ron murmured in an evilly amused manner. Kim opened her eyes, having never heard quite that tone in his voice before; it was an odd mix of what she called his 'sexual voice' and the voice he'd used when struck by Electronique's Reverse Polarizer. She leaned up to stare at him wide eyed, and watched him as he shifted his position on the bed, intercepting Shay's trail of kisses just above her wet core, "Maybe I should take _this_ as _mine_ then, hmmm?"

She squirmed, feeling a hotter wave of aroused heat than she'd ever experienced wash over her body at seeing Ron so aggressive, responding to the former thief by speaking and staring at her so challengingly... She'd _never_ been this turned on before! "In face, I don't mind if I do..." Ron quipped as Shay remained silent, drawing light fingers down Kim's right flank and leaning down as if about to continue the older woman's trail of kisses, but a low, chuckling growl from Shay stopped him.

"Nu-uh, Sport!" Shay's voice was amused, but just as challenging as Ron's, her fingers mimicking his, but with a softer, more delicate touch that sent shivers up and down Kim's spine, "You've already sampled her _plenty_ of times, so it's _my_ turn..." Kim felt those shivers turn into yet more aroused heat as they 'fought' over her, making her even wetter than she'd been during her earlier love making with Ron.

She felt the pressure on her arm release as Shay sat up, staring intently down at the blond teen as he continued to run his fingers along her flank, sometimes dipping his fingers down to tease the top of her waiting sex. "That beautiful little pussy is _mine_ tonight..."

Kim almost gasped to hear the older woman's frank declaration, pleased that the more experienced woman had such an opinion of her center. She agreed with Shay, and knew Ron did as well; the shape was beautiful, feminine, and she personally loved how tight she was. And, if she were honest, she was_ glad _that Ron was no larger than he was. _He'd rip me in half if he was bigger!_

"Awww..." Ron's falsely disappointed murmur snapped her attention to the moment, "So you're saying I'll have to be content with whatever you're not working on, Sheegs?" Kim snorted a small giggle at his words and Shego let out a sharp, startled bark of amusement, and murmured her agreement with a wordless, hungry growl.

Shay then let her body slip back down, her head inches away from the disputed part of Kim instead of the red-head's face, but Kim didn't mind in the least. She was happy to feel Ron retreat back up her body with a trail of soft, intense kisses of his own, but was startled to feel the older woman's left arm wrap around her left leg. The pale woman seemed to use the leg almost as a pillow, supporting it with her own arm and absently stroking the crease between Kim's leg and her nether lips as she stared at Kim's normally hidden treasure for some seconds before addressing Ron almost absently, "You weren't afraid that you might be tasting yourself at all, Ron?"

"Nope..." Ron answered with a smile as he continued up her body, bypassing her breasts nip at her shoulder, "Why should I be?"

"Well, most men are..." Shay murmured as she began to kiss where her hand had been stroking a moment before, "I can see why you like it here..." She seemed enraptured, and Kim felt herself flushing proudly at having such an effect on the older woman. "Absolutely beautiful..." the former thief murmured reverently before kissing her way towards Kim's core, drawing shivers of anticipation from the red-head.

Shay also ran her free hand down her own body, briefly caressing her own breast before trailing down between her legs. She slowly, unconsciously spread them and gave an unimpeded view of herself, even as Ron nibbled at the junction of Kim's neck and shoulder. The red-head craned her neck to allow him easier access, but her response was completely instinctual, as some still aware part of her figured Ron's were; they were both, however, lost as they gained an unimpeded view of Shay's sex.

Kim gasped as the older woman almost touched herself, but kept the touch light, merely teasing herself to a fuller state of arousal. She couldn't help but feel as if she was in heaven with Ron there, sharing the sight as Shay finally slid her fingers just inside herself, then back up the length of her alluring slit. The red-head was almost snapped from her aroused stupor, blinking at how blunt, even crude it sounded in her own mind, but that was the only way she could think to describe it!

The pale woman's lips were different from hers, or even most the girls she'd seen in the locker room. While she may not have been interested in any of them, like most humans, she _had_ looked, and Shay's lips were thin and a little longer than she'd expected. They were not, she noted, in any way out of proportion, but even in Shay's excitement, they were only slightly puffy. What startled the red-head was how worked up she was! Although she could barely see the older woman's engorged clit peeking out from under its hood, she could see wetness slicked along a goodly portion of her pussy.

She almost flinched as Shay's body shifted slightly, bringing her core closer to Kim's face, and she glanced up to see what the older woman was doing. The pale woman was shifting her upper body slightly to give herself better access to Kim's nether lips, and Kim fought the urge to shudder as she felt the first, feather soft brushing of black stained lips on her sex.

Then she noticed Shay's fingers were still sliding along her own lips, separating them and giving Ron and herself a much better view of the older woman's hidden treasure. Despite her pale skin that included most of the lips, the inside was of a deep red, almost blush colored. The inside of her labia majora was startlingly similar to Kim's, but the red-head couldn't help but think that Shay's was... Cuter than her own. The thought drew a startled, happy smile from the younger woman, as the older woman began to pleasure herself.

"Such a cute li'l thing, eh, KP?" Ron asked as he moved his nibbling to her ear. She gasped an affirmative sound before moaning at his nibbling, Shay's light giggle at Ron's declaration sending shockwaves of pleasure through her, as well as what she watched in such rapt fascination. The older woman had evidently gained enough of her own wetness to slick her finger, as she brought it up and swirled around and around the exposed nub of her clit, before gently running her finger along its length from the tip to the very top of her hood.

Then the woman's scent registered in Kim's mind, and it was hard for the younger woman to describe; pleasantly musky, tangy and very slightly sweet at once. For the young woman, it was startling how enticing the aroma was, despite being almost the exact opposite of when she let Ron come inside her mouth. His scent and taste were strong, salty and mildly antiseptic, with a strange, almost grainy texture. As she'd heard in the locker room during P.E. or after cheer practice, this wasn't unusual, and like only a few of the other girls she'd heard talking about it, she enjoyed it. Perhaps it was because it was Ron and she loved him, perhaps she merely had a taste for it... And as that thought struck, she couldn't help but wonder how _Shay_ tasted.

With no more thought than that, she leaned out hesitantly and ran her tongue along the delicate, enticing length of Shay's lips. She started just below the woman's fingers, and while the contact was light, it was obvious from the older woman's startled, almost whining gasp that Kim had drawn her attention. The fingers stopped moving but remained in place, and Ron abruptly stopped suckling and nibbling and nibbling on her ear, pulling back to watch. The younger woman didn't seem to notice as she increased the pressure of her tongue ever so slightly, nor did she seem to care, even when Shay let out a startled, "K-Kimmie?"

She ran her tongue down in that same soft, exploratory manner, and swirled her tongue once, then twice around Shay's moist center. She paused, taking a brief moment to consider the flavor, which she found acidic, but eminently palatable. When Kim took a shivering breath and let it out, she murmured, "You taste... Beautiful, Shay..." Hearing no immediate response, she planted a series of feather light, teasing kisses back up to the older woman's still fingers.

When she encountered the older woman's ring and middle finger, she sucked the entire length of them into her mouth. She moaned at the sensation and the taste on the older woman's fingers, unknowingly sending the vibrations through to the former thief's clit and into her very being. "Oh, damn, Kimmie..." Shego grunted, feeling herself pushed almost halfway to an orgasm from the teen's actions, which culminated in letting the fingers slip from her mouth with a gentle flick of her tongue.

Kim blinked when she realized Ron had said the same thing at the exact same time, and almost giggled madly when Ron asked, "You sure you haven't done this with a woman before, KP?"

"Doy..." Kim giggled, then looked towards Shay's half lidded, lust filled eyes and flushed slightly, "Was... Was that alright, Shay?"

"Mmm-hmmm..." the pale woman murmured, reaching up to gently stroke her still slick fingers down the side of Kim's face, "Your pressure was perfect with the tongue, but I prefer kisses like that up here..." With that, she grabbed the red-head's right arm and brought it to one of her her firm, full breasts, making Kim's hand squeeze, before dragging the hand up to her neck, "Or here... The other places you'll have to find on your own!"

Kim giggled again and nodded enthusiastically, bringing her hand back down. She gently reached out with both hands, now that Shay no longer held her nether lips aside, and opened them once again. She ran her tongue along the length again from top to bottom, making sure to avoid the older woman's clit as Ron always did to her, and earned a low moan for her action. When she finished that lick, she paused and whispered, "You really like being teased like this?"

"Like you wouldn't believe, Pumpkin..." Shay chuckled, running her tongue along the point of Kim's hip and drawing a startled giggle from her, "Like you wouldn't believe..."

"Hey!" Ron half crowed, pumping a fist, "That makes two of us in here that like it!"

Kim stopped her actions, and Shay scowled at him both for making Kim stop, and for his statement in general. Ron kept his silly grin as he leaned back to whisper in Kim's ear, just loud enough for the older woman to hear as well, "That means you're outnumbered, KP..." He let his voice drop a little more as he reached down to slid his hand along the underside of her leg, then back up around the top of her leg and towards her center, his fingers brushing along Shay's face as he did so, "So twice the teasing at the same time..."

Kim blinked, glancing back at him, and then at Shay, whose expression had changed from annoyance to positively evil, "And there's so much of the body you can't learn without..." She leaned down and placed a ticklingly soft kiss to the very top of Kim's hood, "Teasing..."

Kim let a low moan slip from her throat that sounded somewhere between horrified and incredibly aroused, and she literally bucked her hips into Shay's face when the woman let her own tongue trace a lazy path around her swollen clit. Ron, not to be outdone, was sliding a finger up and down the outermost edges of Kim's labia. He included the occasional brush against her nub when Shay's tongue wasn't in the way, and chuckling every time Kim reacted to that much sought after touch. "Are you guys trying to make me die here?"

"_Oui, Mademoiselle Possible!_" Shay cooed at her, pausing to bite her lip when she accidentally brushed her tongue along both Kim's clit and Ron's finger. She seemed to wait for something, her attention briefly internalized, but smiled when whatever it was passed and continued in an even lustier voice, "_La petite mort..._"

Shay went back to running her tongue along Kim's hypersensitive clit, even as Kim decided to dive in on her end. She began running teasing strokes of not only her tongue along the bare slit in front of her, but the fingers of her right hand randomly about the older woman's well trimmed mons and down to her bare lips. The former thief gasped, and had to pause to finish her thought, "Ove-... God... Over, and over a-... Hmmm, slower with your tongue, Kimmie, and a little inside from where you'r-... Ohhh, yeeesssss..." She reached down to gently run a hand through Kim's hair, and Kim, seeing that her new lover's lips were remaining apart on their own without much need for her fingers, hesitantly slid her hands around to caress her firm, muscular derrière.

Kim let out a delighted giggle at hearing the older, and obviously more experienced woman gasping under her admittedly inexperienced hands and tongue. That giggle turned into a sharp gasp as Ron's middle finger slid slowly into her. At the same instant, Shay's tongue finally got serious and began lapping with firm, though obviously loving attention to Kim's clit.

Kim's hands spasmed from the dual attack, and she buried her face as much as she could into Shay's crotch. She let out a stuttering groan as fire swept up from her loins to flash into the back of her eyes. It wasn't an orgasm, not quite, but she knew she wouldn't last long if both kept it up. Especially when Ron backed off a little bit and allowed Shay to roll Kim over onto her. Ron kept close to his place, seemingly unconcerned that his flaccid manhood was half pointing at the face of a woman that, a year earlier, had terrified him, and still kept his finger gently working on Kim.

The red-head wasn't sure why, and she found she didn't care as she began to lavish attention onto Shay's wet slit. She glanced over at Ron and smiled at him, her gaze mingling lust, love and a deep contentment, and she murmured a hazy, husky "Thank you, Ron..." She was startled when, still working on her, he leaned in to kiss her with passionate zeal, the hand of his supporting arm resting inside and against Shay's leg and very close to her core.

"Thank you... Both of you..." Shay murmured from beneath Kim's crotch as Ron broke away, but kept his arm where it was. Kim gasped, moaned and squirmed as the sensation of the older woman's words vibrating against her sex added to her aroused state. "Thank you for trusting me with her, Ronnie... Thank you..." She paused long enough to swallow, against emotions, her pride, perhaps both; Kim was uncertain, but felt it might be both with the soft, caring smile that was on Ron's face, "Thank you for loving me, and letting me love you, Kimmie..."

"No-..." Kim started, and gasped as Ron suddenly removed his finger from her to caress her firm ass and up along her back, and two of Shay's slimer fingers replaced his, seeming to fill her as much as Ron would at that moment, "Oh, God... N-n-... No need... To th-thank me..." She took one of her own fingers and slid it within the older woman. Shay gasped, and Kim discovered that there was a startling, but soothing heat within the former thief's sacred place. It was so different than her own inside, and she was glad for the difference... And incredibly, even more aroused by it.

A few moments later, she realized that the older woman, while not loose by any stretch of the imagination, could likely take more than she could, and slid a second finger inside. The second finger must have been close to perfect if Shay's guttural, "Kimmie!" was any indication. Kim paused, hoping she hadn't done something wrong, and the older woman whined as if begging for more, "Please, Kimmie... I'm getting close..."

Kim didn't deny her lover's request. She began to thrust her fingers in and out quickly, and began to flick her tongue faster, even as the first waves of her orgasm hit her like a freight train. She wasn't sure, at first, what brought it on, and honestly was beyond caring. She'd only had a few orgasms that intense up to that point in her life: her first orgasm, accidentally discovered with her own personal exploration when she was barely fourteen... The orgasm she managed the fifth time being with Ron when they'd first moved in with each other, when she'd fully,_ truly _accepted their love for each other... And the one earlier that evening, when she'd seen Shay standing over her and Ron, gazing down at them with hopeful nervousness.

This was as powerful as any of them, and she was thankful that it was no more powerful than the others. But because of that very power, it had great meaning to Kim, about her choice, about what she hoped was the future. And seemingly as quickly as it hit, it ended, and she felt Ron's face close to hers, found her mouth on his, his tongue and hers dancing, sharing their love, Shay's taste and a mutual, soft, "Mmmm..." of contentment between them.

And, within seconds, she felt another wave building within her. She wasn't unfamiliar with multiple orgasms, as she'd brought herself to a few, and had received a few with Ron. This was the first time one had come right on the heels of the first, though. Perhaps it was Shay's skill, perhaps it was the love she felt from the two people loving her at the moment, perhaps it was all the teasing... She didn't care, and focused on bringing the older woman to her own climax before she reached her second.

She worked steadily, quickly thrusting her fingers, even suckling on the clit below her. She flicked her tongue, moving it up and down, back and forth whenever she brought it fully into her mouth. It worked, and while she had a brief reprieve from the older woman's sexual ministrations, she was rewarded... Shay threw her head back and half growled, half screamed an incoherent string of imprecations to the ceiling. Even so, she kept her own trusting up, as if on auto-pilot but couldn't return her tongue to the fray.

Shay was shuddering underneath Kim, and the red-head felt a strong sense of accomplishment... She'd done that to Shay! To _Shego_! World famous former heroine turned superthief, turned heroine once again! She knew it'd literally been a few years for the older woman, but she felt no less proud for succeeding. She was just slowing down when she felt Ron's finger sliding between her leg and Shay's chest, his hand settling between her breasts and his middle finger taking over for the older woman's tongue.

He knew, from experience how to get her off that way, and with Shay's finger stroking in an absently knowledgeable fashion within her, Kim didn't last long. She let out a soft keen as her second orgasm hit her, almost as powerfully as the first. She was panting, seeing stars and feeling a bone deep, satisfied tiredness as she moaned out, "Love you, Ronnie... Shay... God, I love you both_ so _much..."

It took her almost a full minute to come down from her second orgasm, but finally the older woman withdraw from her center and Ron pulled his hand away. There was a brief tension in the woman's body below her, but it was thankfully brief, and Kim couldn't help but smile at it's rapid passing. Weakly, she rolled off on the opposite side from Ron, glancing at Shay and kissing her hip. "That... Oh, God..."

She didn't care what anyone thought. She loved Shay and Ron both and damn anyone who thought it was wrong! She wanted more, she realized, so much more... But first... First, maybe she should rest... She half closed her eyes and lie back, drawing a breath to let out a sigh, feeling the first edges of sleep tickling her consciousness when a chuckle from Shay brought her back from sleep's gentle invitation...

**KP RS SG KP RS SG**

"Yeah..." Shego agreed, pleased neither of them either noticed, or cared, about her brief freezing whens he felt Ron's hand gliding between her left breast and Kim's hips. The contact, she admitted, had felt... Startlingly good. With a strange smile on her face, she continued with a satisfied groan, "God _damn_, that's one _helluva_ way to come back from three years of nothing!" She blinked a few times as she saw something in her slightly blurry vision. She focused on it and realized that Ron's partially erect lower self was less than four inches from her face, and a strange, half smirk, half fearful stab of worry crossed her features.

She felt the dread coming back, as if trying to make her fling herself away... But she wouldn't! Never again! But... She still felt that fear, that heart consuming dread. _Dammit... Stop it, I'm already with his fiancée, why should I avoid him, too?_

"Shay?" Ron asked as he stared down at her and noticed her eyes were locked on his now rapidly stiffening member, "Er... You okay?"

_Time to find out how Kimmie would react to me... At least talking about him..._ Aloud, she glanced from the shaft so close to her to the red-head's concerned face. "Hey, Kimmie..." she called, and stared right into the younger woman's eyes, "I think you lucked out with your boy here... He doesn't taste half bad..."

"Shay!" Kim gasped, her eyes widening briefly as a flush crossed her features, "Oh, I'm sorry, should I have cleaned up befo-..." Shego's half laugh, half content sigh and the lazy licking of her lips stopped the younger woman in mid-word.

"No..." Shego sighed out, "Honestly... Like I said, he's not bad... I mean, I've been with guys that intentionally ate things to make their semen taste better, but for a guy that's _au naturale_?" She shrugged, even as a vocal part of her mind was screaming in that familiar yet unfamiliar voice at her, making her want to tear her way out of the bed, to run... But she didn't.

Instead, she reached down to stroke Kim's still wet crotch, gently sliding a single finger into her, "I'm not going to lie... I was a nervous wreck when I could smell him still inside you... It... The thought of being with him, because I think of him as a friend, terrifies me, Kimmie..." She glanced at Ron, slightly shame-faced, "That's why I'm so nervous around you, Sport... I... Hear things, see things... It's that fear, the things I see actually happening... That's why I'm not sure I'll ever be able to... To do this with you, y'know?"

"Tell us about it when you're ready, Shay..." Ron sad with a slightly confused, but earnest expression.

Shego nodded and looked back at Kim, "But... I didn't mind this... Even feeling his hand on me... Or seeing Little Ron all but stabbing my eye here..."

"Shay!" Ron blushed at her blunt statement, and Kim giggled happily.

"Hmmm... Y'know what?" Kim and Ron looked at her with questioning gazes, and she winked up at Ron, "I think she's ready for you again, Sport... You ready for her?" Kim made a sound of confusion and disappointment as Shego withdrew her finger from Kim, and Shego winked at her, "I'm sure he loves you on top..."

"Uh, huh..." Ron nodded numbly as Shay made a show of sucking the finger that had just been in Kim clean, plainly still shocked that the whole situation was happening, especially when Shego continued.

"And, well..." the older woman flushed slightly, but it was obviously from nervousness instead of any overt arousal, "I'd... Kinda like to touch Kimmie... Maybe... Maybe do a few things for her while she's on you, Ronnie..." She returned her hand to the apex of Kim's legs and stroked her finger along Kim's clit, drawing a surprised blink from Ron. _Yeah, that'd probably put my finger in contact with... With you..._ She felt a shudder of what she knew_ had _to be_ impossible _revulsion, but fought it off, smiling at him as devilishly as she could, before she could back out.

"Oohhh..." Kim drew out, suddenly forgetting her tiredness and smiling at her new lover, "You sure you could handle... I mean, if you accidentally touched Ron?" Shego nodded firmly, and then found herself wondering at the brief, insanely happy look on Kim's face, even if it passed quickly. "I'd love to feel you while Ron's... With me._ In _me... Spankin' idea, Sheegs!" With that, Kim performed a kip up that turned her over enough to kneel above Shego, before she leaned down to kiss Shego with brief, intense passion. When she broke from her, she asked in a nervous whisper, seeming to hope it wouldn't offend the older woman, "Pass it along?"

Shego nodded, despite a brief roiling nausea at the thought of consciously kissing Ron. She rolled herself up to a sitting position, then leaned over his still laying figure and touched her lips to his. The kiss started chastely, but quickly grew in intensity despite, or perhaps_ to _spite, the screaming at the back of her mind, and Ron moaned helplessly into the kiss. While he was distracted, Kim settled herself around him, and Shego pulled back, consciously laying her hand on his chest. "Ladies?" he asked when Kim stayed still.

"Ron..." Shego said as seriously as she could, looking down at him, "That... I liked that... The kiss..." He nodded, and Shego could only guess the fear was visible in her eyes, "I know I keep going back to this, but I have to... Get it out, I guess. Remind myself about it, so if it gets annoying, let me know, 'kay?" She favored both of them with a questioning look, and both nodded with slight smiles, before she continued. "Ronnie, Kimmie... I don't know why it scares me... Why I keep thinking it'll lead to something terrible. But it's not as bad as it was, and if I'm ever able to overcome it..."

"Take all the time you need, Shay..." Ron murmured, a soft, caring smile on his face that drew a few tears to Shego's eyes, "No matter what you decide..."

"Let me finish..." Shego half snapped, grimacing at her tone, and giving an apologetic half shrug as she schooled her thoughts, "Ron, you're emotionally one of the types of guys I like as friends and... And could see myself wanting more over time... Physically, you're a lot closer than I ever thought you were, but... If I'm ever able to overcome... It, whatever_ it _is?" She waited until Ron nodded for her to continue, and favored both of them with a serious look, "If so, I won't hesitate to be with you like I was with Kimmie here..."

"And like we've both said, about other things, and now about this... We'll wait for you," Kim assured her as she reached out to lay a hand briefly on Shego's shoulder, "No matter what happens. Promise..."

"Kim... Ron..." Shego felt herself trying to choke up, and closed her eyes, taking a few cleansing breaths, _Dammit, I'm in love with Kimmie, and... Do I really want to love him? Do I want to risk the voice being right?_ She shook her head as she finished the second breath, to shoo those thoughts as far away as she could. _No! No fucking more, damn you whoever you are!_ As if to reinforce her thought, she gazed fondly at the both of them, "Right now, by myself and by my own volition, I can't do more than kiss you, Ron... But I can be with Kimmie fully and completely with no hesitation. Are you sure you'd be okay with just a kiss or two from time to time and the occasional, accidental touch? For now, anyway?"

"I'd be an idiot to say 'No.', y'know?" Ron chuckled, and Shego slapped his shoulder firmly, "Hey, not you, too!"

"Face it, Ronnie..." Kim chuckled as she ground against him, drawing his attention back to her, "You love the attention..."

"Well..." Ron breathed, closing his eyes as Shego took his hand in hers, holding it like a friend... But also somewhat like Kim held his hands, as well, "Yeah, yeah I do..."

"Shay..." Kim murmured as Shego gazed at Ron, her face troubled, "You sure you're okay?"

"Are you two?" Shego asked, and when they nodded, she smirked, shoving her concerns aside for at least the night, "There you go..." Ron chuckled, Kim smiled and then let out a sighing moan as Ron reached up to touch her stomach with gentle fingers and Shego stopped them again with a wry, chuckling declaration, "And neither of you better be cover hogs, 'cause I'm going to be sleeping right next to _my_ Kimmie!"

Ron, who had moved his hands to grab ahold of Kim's hips for a moment, looked at the older woman as she moved around behind Kim and raised an eyebrow at her, "Our Kimmie, Shay..." He glanced back at Kim and reiterated, "_Our_ Kimmie..."

"Always..." Kim murmured softly, beginning to rock gently on her fiancé as Shego kissed her neck and her hands began to trace random, enchanting patterns across the red-head's body...

**Author's Notes**

Well... That was... A lot bigger than I'd originally planned... ^_^'' By about twelve thousand words, to be precise! But all in all, it seems Felix is coming around to admit his feelings for Joss... Shego's tryin' to play matchmaker for her single friend, JJ...

And Shego finally had a chance to make love to her flame haired love, Kim Possible. I hope that wasn't too boring, and that it got the emotions - as well as some of the reasons behind Shego's emotional hesitation - across the way I wanted to!

And now, as I said in the Author's Forward, I'm working on the second arc of this story. It's still tentatively entitled "Vacation from the Norm, Book II: Journey of Discovery"... I know, kinda cheesy, but it's... Fitting! ^_^''

As always, thanks to Neo the Saiyan Angel for her flow/feel beta work. As well, remember everyone, there's lots of fics out there so keep up the reading, and remember: if ya like a fic, give the author a review!


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